Dust and Ashes
by Rand0mSmil3z
Summary: Mephisto finalized his plan of sixteen years by trading Rin away to Satan for his freedom, but things don't work according to plan. Now Yukio has to find a way to rescue his brother in Gehenna, Mephisto has to make up for his mistake, and Rin has to stay alive as the Prince of Hell while Satan is trying to turn him into a weapon..but what happens what he sparks a civil war instead?
1. Prologue 1 - Assaih

_Hey guys! First Ao no Exorcist fanfic, so let's see how this goes. Literally a spur-of-the-moment thing. :D That means please rate it / comment and let me know how the characters are coming along (if I get their profiles right) or whatever else. I want to nail this one before I start any new stories. Based off of this chapter, it might be longer than expected though. Oh well._

_Enjoy the chapter! :D_

_Stay Awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_

* * *

Mephisto Pheles narrowed his eyes, his hands folded on the desk. He had this all planned from the very beginning, from the first day Shiro Fujimoto had discovered two of Satan's children. It seemed like a game back then, a delightful game to past the time. He had thought about it constantly. Obsessively. That seed of an idea grew into a vast forest, dominating his life. Every choice he made worked towards the final result.

It seemed so _easy _at first. Shiro trusted Mephisto to a fault, even enrolled Yukio into the school he had founded. Of course, many believed that it was because Shiro had been the Paladin. It was Mephisto who knew better, knew that Shiro had wanted to enroll his adopted and dangerous sons into a real school to learn math and reading instead of proper gun care. Mephisto had argued that Rin, the one who had been strong enough or perhaps unlucky enough to inherit the blue flames would need to be protected. After all, Shiro wouldn't be around forever, and the Paladin had agreed.

As expected, Rin soon grew out of the bubble of innocence and perceived safety that had been around him since birth. As expected, Shiro had been killed by Satan - though Mephisto hadn't thought that Rin would speed the process along. He had actually thought old age and the natural human weak mind would have done him in but, well, details weren't important.

Now the twins were going to be during sixteen Christmas day, exactly sixteen days after the planning all began. Mephisto had raised Rin into a weapon and Yukio into a deadly assassin, a magician with a gun.

But he didn't care about that. Yukio, the normal human boy, was none of his concern. It was Rin who had been the catalyst for all of the plans, the axel all of the scheming revolved about. Rin had been pampered at a young age compared to his brother and now, like a lamb, be sacrificed.

After all, Mephisto's time on Assaih was running out, and the greater demon didn't want to leave. Why _should _he, after all of these long years toiling in a world that didn't accept his kind? He was the king, and every king needed a kingdom . . . a kingdom not found in Gehena. Satan wasn't the type to share.

Mephisto grinned, a dangerous smile. Sixteen years of planning would be finalized tomorrow. Satan had agreed, in a roundabout way, that he would give Mephisto his freedom in place of Rin's. And why not? It wasn't like the king of Gehena had anything to lose while Mephisto had everything. As a traitor, he would have been killed the moment he stepped back in his demonic home. Here, he was treated like royalty.

Mephisto stood and walked to the window. Snow gently fell from the sky, coating the world in a thin layer of white. Pale stars flickered above the school - _his _school - like eyes winking to each other. Mephisto never liked the stars. They always seemed to secretive, as if they knew something he didn't. He also hated spiders. They waltzed around his office as if they paid rent.

_Tomorrow, _Mephisto decided. He lifted his tea to his lips; the exotic aroma filled his nostrils, but it seemed to him that his hand was shaking slightly. That wouldn't do. He gripped the cup a little tighter, taking care not to break the fragile ceramic. _Tomorrow. _

He would not let sixteen years of careful planning go to waste.

Rin Okumura stared at the ceiling. _Tomorrow I'm going to be sixteen, _he thought. Honestly, he didn't think that he would make it. There had been too many times he had nearly died, like the battle with the Impure King earlier in the year or the time when the crazy teacher what's-his-face stabbed him through the stomach, though it healed quickly.

There was one another time too, right before he enrolled in this school. But he tried not to think about.

_Rin!_

Rin turned his head and grinned. Kuro, his demon cat familiar, bounded with him. _Tomorrow! _it said happily, bounding to land on his chest. It nuzzles its face against his cheek. _Tomorrow you're gonna be so oooold and you're gonna eat a lot of caaaakeee! _It perked its ears up. _Are you gonna make cake, Rin?_

Rin laughed and scratched Kuro right behind the ears, its favorite spot. Kuro purred from contentment. "Yeah," he whispered, taking care not to wake Yukio. He seemed really stressed lately and was passed out on his bed, but the poor guy always seemed stressed out. Once Shura Kirigakure, the crazy teacher that wore half of what she should, had swapped his water with vodka. Yukio figured it out pretty quickly and was ticked off the rest of the day. Rin thought it was pretty funny at the time.

_Can you make some for me? _Kuro asked, wagging both of its tails, sort of like a dog. _Like, a really really really big piece?! With catnip wine?! _The familiar's eyes widened as ideas popped in its mind.

Rin smiled. Kuro was extraordinarily talkative, though he seemed to be the only one who could hear it. His dad, Shiro, once had Kuro for a familiar too. Rin had really liked that when he found out; in a sense, it was like being close to his dad again.

"I'll see what I can do, all right?" he whispered.

Kuro seemed to smile. Or at least, tried to. It was a good effort. _Yay! _it said happily, then yawned and made a nest beside Rin's head, right on the good side of the pillow. _Don't forget, _it added, peering at Rin with one yellow eye.

Rin laughed again. "I won't," he promised.

Kuro watched Rin a bit longer before closing his eyes and falling asleep. Rin watched his familiar for a moment longer before turning his head back towards the ceiling.

_Tomorrow, _he thought, slowly nodding off, _I'll go to dad's grave._

* * *

_ the next day_

* * *

"Yukio, pass me the flour." Yukio obediently passed Rin the desired object, and Rin proceeded to measure it out and dump it into a bowl.

_Cooking, _Yukio thought, a bit begrudgingly, _is probably the only thing Rin's good at. _After all, his older brother (though he swore the hospital they were born at got it wrong) never paid attention in class, always screwed around on the missions, and had gotten them both killed numerous times. Rin insisted it was to make their lives interesting and had about a thousand different excused, but Yukio came up with one that seemed to sum it all up nicely : his older brother was an idiot.

Rin profusely denied it, though.

"Cinnamon," Rin ordered, holding out his hand without looking. Yukio glanced around the kitchen counter and found a red-looking container and handed it to him.

Rin glanced at it and wrinkled his nose. "I said _cinnamon, _not _cyan pepper._ Geez Yukio, are you _trying _to make a flaming cake?"

"No," Yukio replied grumpily, then found the correct item and handed it to his older brother. Like he said, _Rin _was the cook. Not him. He could live off of sandwiches and water for years and not get tired of it. _Well, _he added as an afterthought, _maybe not __**years**__. Maybe __**weeks**__._

"But wait," Yukio frowned, "I thought cinnamon doesn't go in cake."

"This," Rin grinned, "is special. Because, you know, we're sixteen."

"Can't believe we made it," Yukio said with a thin smile. He didn't have enough fingers to count the many times he thought he died. Once from the Impure King and about a thousand times from Rin giving him near heart-attacks. His death sentence had nearly been the end of him but, against all odds, Rin had pulled through.

_By sheer luck though, _Yukio added with a scowl.

"I'm making it right now!"

Yukio glanced at his brother in surprise, but then realized that he was just talking to the cat. Kuro was sitting on the counter - something that it _shouldn't _be doing, now that he thought about it - was eyeing the cake batter with hungry eyes.

"I told you already, I'll make you something different," Rin frowned. "Yeah, I remember the promise. Yeah, I remember. _No, _you cannot lick the batter. Get yer paws outa the bowl."

Yukio rolled his eyes and, for the sake of his sanity, ignored his brother. Instead he focused on the world outside the window. The sky was stormy, with thick gray clouds covered the sky like a blanket. But, for some reason, the clouds seemed darker somehow, more ominous. Yukio shuddered.

_See, _he reprimanded himself, _this is your problem. Stop thinking so much. Be more like Rin and stop thinking. _He glanced at his brother, who was still talking to the cat, and made a look of distaste. _Well, _he thought, _maybe that's a bit too far . . ._

Suddenly there was a knock on the door.

"I got it!" Yukio called, though mostly out of habit. Though, when he opened the door, Mephisto was waiting on the other side. Yukio blinked in surprise.

"Bonjour," Mephisto smirked, bowing sarcastically. "Happy birthday."

Yukio flushed. "Thanks," he said, then scowled. Mephisto usually was bad news wherever he showed up. "Can I help you, sir?"

"Yes, actually," he said, looking around the shabby dorm. "Where is your brother?"

"In the kitchen," Yukio replied, feeling uneasy. "Is he in trouble?"

"Oh, no," Mephisto said a little too quickly. He furiously waved his hand, as if that would wipe away the guilt. _Suspicious. _"The . . . the Vatican would like a word with him."

Yukio's eyes widened. _The Vatican? _"Wait, but I thought you said - "

"Just a word, Yukio," Mephisto said, cutting him off. Impatience clipped his tone and annoyance flared in his eyes. "He will not be gone long."

Yukio's eyes narrowed. He didn't like this - didn't like this at all. Every nerve ending shrieked that this was bad, bad, bad. But instead he said, "I'll go get him," and walking inside, leaving Mephisto in the snow.

Rin glanced at him, spoon full of cake batter shoved in his mouth. Kuro had the same and looked quite happy about it. Yukio sighed - guess the cake is going to be a bit smaller this year - and said, "Mephisto is here."

Rin blinked his blue eyes and hurriedly swallowed the batter. "What does he want?" he asked.

Yukio shrugged. "I don't know, but he wants you."

His brother frowned. "Did you ask why?"

"The Vatican want to 'have a word with you.'"

The reaction was instantaneous. One second Rin was watching him casually, the next he had gone rigid. It was to be expected, though; the Vatican had tried to kill him more than once. Rin still had the scar on his ankle to prove it.

But then the moment passed and Rin was his usual casual self again, though there was a jerkiness to his movements that hadn't been there before. The cat cocked its head at him in a question.

"I'll be right back," Rin replied in an overly carefree voice, then glanced to Yukio with a guarded expression. "Don't eat any of it while I'm gone."

"Don't want to. You okay?" he added.

Rin smiled. "I'm fine," he said, then turned to the door with a wave. Yukio watched him leave with a blank expression.

_He sucks at lying, _Yukio thought, turning towards the sticky white cake batter. He stuck his finger in it and licked the stuff off; surprisingly, it was actually pretty good. _Guess the only thing he's good at is cooking after all. _

"What's this about?" Rin demanded the moment they were outside. Kurikara, his sword, was slung over his shoulder and his eyes flashed dangerously; no doubt from the demon inside of him. Mephisto couldn't help but smile; this past year, his powers had truly matured into something to be feared. One Kurikara had cracked, and Mephisto couldn't help but wonder: _what would happen if it snapped in half?_

The thought pestered him like an itch he couldn't scratch.

"Not the Vatican," Mephisto replied. "I lied."

Rin relaxed slightly, but not much. "Why?"

Mephisto grinned, though his hands trembled slightly so he shoved them the opposite sleeve. He told himself that it was from excitement, not from fear or any of those worthless emotions. "You will see when you get there."

Rin's eyes narrowed further but, like the trusting young man he was, didn't question further. Trust was one of Rin's best and worst traits. Trust in his comrades pulled him through in his weakest moments, but now his trust would be his own undoing.

Mephisto led Rin into the doors of the Vatican. They great circled room was empty now, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling dark and unlit. Rin got tense the moment they walked inside. But what Mephisto was looking for wasn't in this room; it was underground, directly beneath the protective circle drawn into the shiny tiles.

"What's this?" Rin asked when the stepped out of the dark staircase. Condensation had gathered on the old stone walls, making them slick and damp. Stone columns held the room together, though some had cracked. Others had broken completely and now lay crushed on the dirt ground. Empty prison cells lined the walls, their hinges rusty and kept the door open, as if the prisoner's spirits and pushed them there ages ago as a last-laugh. Musk hung in the air and water dripped from the high ceiling.

_Drip. _

_ Drip. _

_ Drip. _

"This place is a forgotten layer of years past," Mephisto answered Rin with the wave of his hand. His boots crunched on the ground, kicking up old gravel.

"Why are we here?" Rin's tone was guarded. Now that Mephisto thought about it, the boy was on edge the moment they came here.

_And it's only going to get worse. _

Something stirred in the distance. Rin's head snapped to the sudden sound and his hand was already on his sword. His nerves were clearly doing him in, but now Mephisto thought that maybe - _just maybe - _he was nervous for a different reason, something entirely opposite of being in the Vatican.

_Maybe he can sense it, _Mephisto wondered, then stepped forward. "There is nothing to fear, Rin."

Rin glared at him. "I'm not afraid," he stated, and continued to follow Mephisto.

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

Mephisto continued further. The quality of air worsened and the dampness on the walls had created tiny puddles on the ground. Old torches, unable to bear another flame again, burst in a flurry of blue.

Rin flinched back, his eyes wide. Mephisto could only imagine what was going through his mind, but it was too late to turn back. Too late. Hands shaking, he grabbed Rin's wrist and dragged him forward.

Too late.

_Drip. Drip. Drip. _

"Mephisto." A silky voice cut through the dank air, sharper than a blade and colder than glacier ice. "I didn't expect you would come."

"Would I ever break my promise, Father?" Mephisto asked haughtily, with more courage than he felt. Blue eyes peered back from the darkness and the King of Gehena smiled from the other side of the gate. Sixteen years of planning had gone into this gate, sixteen years for this single moment.

"Yes," Satan replied. His laugh turned Mephisto's blood to ice. Rin began to struggle more violently than before, now screaming for help. "Yes," Satan said again, "you would."

* * *

_I figured that Satan would sound more, I don't know, beautiful (?) since he's an angel fallen from grace. And originally, I was going to start this entire fanfic the moment the turds hit the fan, so basically right at the end, but that seemed wrong. I like this way better. :) _

_Anyway, I don't mean to sound annoying, but please review and let me know how it's going. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to writing (except spelling mistakes. You might find a few of those haha) so I really want to get the character personalities right. Mephisto was definitely the hardest out of all of them. Satan? Heck, I don't even know. I'm going for the fallen angel thing. And the reason he can show up in Assaih will be in the next chapter, so to everyone who freaked out, don't even worry :) There's logic behind this haha_

_So, yeah. Have an amazing day! Or next day, if it's night time for you. _

_Stay Awesome, _

_Rand0mSmil3z_


	2. Prologue 2 - Assaih

_Hey again. :3 I'm super excited about writing this to the point it's getting in the way of working on my book, but the more I think about it, the less I care. I'll eventually taper off the updates (I'm leaving July 9th and coming back the 29th, so definitely no updates between then) so just a heads up way in advance. I'll continue when I get home though!_

_This chapter is a bit . . . violent. And bloody. I'm not gonna sugar-coat it because it will just sound bad. :( Sorry everyone. _

_So, off topic, I noticed that I spelt 'Gehenna' wrong repeatedly in the last chapter. It's with two n's, not one, so that's being fixed. Anyway, here's chapter 2! _

_PS: The title and summary are likely to change, since I don't like them. I'll think about it later. _

_PPS: this chapter was really hard to write D':_

* * *

Rin knew that voice. It was different, distorted from his memories, but he would recognize the underlying tone anywhere. The sickeningly sweet, cruel voice seemed to reverberate inside of him like a sharp scream. _This _was the voice that gave him nightmares the moment Shiro - no, his _father_ - was murdered by Satan.

Rin squeezed his eyes shut, his hands desperately trying to free himself from Mephisto's grasp. He was screaming for help, screaming for _anyone_, but no one was coming. No one heard him, just like last time.

"My son."

Rin jerked, his breathing ragged in his throat. He always imagined himself fighting head-one and not just winning. He imagined himself _completely dominating _the outcome and banishing Satan to the darkest depths of Gehenna.

But that all it was, a figment of his imagination. That wasn't reality. _This _was.

His moment of weakness was enough for Mephisto to throw Rin forward. He hit the ground hard, bruising his head against the rough stone floor. Stars danced in his vision momentarily but he was already getting to his feet, already reaching for his sword.

Then froze.

Blood. There was a lot of blood. Not his blood - someone else's. Maybe a lot of people. Rin recalled the disappearances, but the exorcists had always been 'missing in action'.

He turned his head away, trying hard not to throw up. Guess they weren't missing after all. They were right here the entire time, their purified blood fueling what looked like black, bubbling lava in the center of the floor. A hand made entirely out of the black goop, a hand small enough to be a child's, reached out from the mass. A head followed and it giggled. The sound echoed off of the stone walls and then quickly cut off when another hand shoved it down and another head forced itself above, continuing the laugh. There were dozens of those . . . those _things _in the black sludge, dozens upon dozens upon dozens . . .

Rin's stomach twisted and he turned away, sick.

"I thought you told me he had become stronger, Samael." Rin could hear footsteps walking towards him but his body seemed to be frozen to the ground, shaking - but not from the cold. A hand reached forward and fingers moved underneath his chin, forcing his head upward so that he was staring into two blue eyes. They were staring back at him in distaste.

But then Rin realized something else. Satan had possessed a different body; this time, it was Arthur Auguste Angel, the Paladin after Shiro. _But how? _Rin thought in panic, his arms limp to his side. He never liked Angel, especially after he chopped off Rin's ankle with his sword, but he didn't hate him enough to wish Satan to possess him.

Mephisto - no, Samael - shrugged. His movements were jerky and his hands were shoved into his pockets, something Rin had never seen him do before. Not that he cared. "He _has _become stronger," Samael insisted with a sly grin. "He defeated the Impure King and the Kraken."

"My pets?" Satan suddenly began to laugh, dropping Rin in the process. He fell back onto his knees. It was as if he couldn't breathe, couldn't speak, couldn't do _anything. _

_ No. _Satan's laugh reminded him of back then, back to when he didn't know anything about the other, darker half of the world. _No, _he thought again, his hand gripping his sword. _I can do something. I can destroy - _his eyes flicked up to the black sludge on the floor - _that._

Before he could change his mind, he ripped Kurikara out of the sheathe. Blue flames enveloped him as his ears grew long and his canine's sharper than before. His vision went blue, but that always happened. Rin crouched and, hopefully before anyone else could react, lunged at the Gehenna Gate. He had changed from back then, from being helpless and crying out for help. He could do this, could show everyone that just because he was the son of Satan didn't meant that -

_- Whack!_

Something smashed against his side, knocking him off balance. He slammed against the ground, bruising his side, and his head cracked on the ground. He bounced again from the force and hit a column, only to bounce off and hit the ground hard. He tasted copper in his mouth and something hot and sticky ran down his face, into his eyes. He tried to move and gasped from the pain.

_Broken, _he realized, biting back a cry. _Broken. _His arm and leg were at unnatural angles on the ground, no doubt from slamming against the ground the _first _time. He was pretty sure the second or third time didn't help either.

Satan walked towards him, a smile on his face. "Oh?" he grinned, stooping down beside Rin. "There as more resistance that I thought."

Rin glared at him with everything that he had and hoped he wouldn't pass out. It was hard; it was like he was looking through a tunnel with blackness on both sides, but the tunnel kept on getting smaller and smaller and smaller . . .

Mephisto thought he was going to be sick. He hadn't expected that to happen. Rin was supposed to just sit there and be obedient, but his outburst had earned Mephisto his undying respect. It was impressive, but still - something inside of him stirred when Rin fell onto the ground and didn't get back up again. _Worry? _Mephisto wondered, eyes wide as Satan only smiled. Since when did he, Samael, the King of Time and the one of the eight demon kings, feel petty human emotions like that?

But the feeling only intensified when Satan stooped down in front of Rin and lifted his limp head. Surprisingly, Rin had still been conscious and muttered something under his breath, something that sounded like a curse, only to close his eyes and pass out.

"Satan," Mephisto said, worry curling his gut. He wished that the emotion would just go away. It wasn't making this any easier. "You are to give me my freedom."

Satan, in Angel's body, glanced at him like he had forgotten Mephisto was even there. It was a strange thing and slightly ironic for Satan, a demon, to possess Angel's body, but the humor faded long ago. Mephisto had made Satan promise that he wouldn't harm Angel, or rather, asked politely that Satan not damage his finest exorcist. It seemed fine for now, but the blood was already dripping out of his eyes and nose. He wouldn't last much longer.

"As promised, Samael," Satan said, picking up Rin and throwing him into the Gehenna Gate, "I will give you permission to stay in Assaih indefinitely." The black tar bubbled around his limp body and the hands reached out, gleefully pulling him down. The unconscious boy didn't seem to notice - Mephisto hoped it would stay the way.

Mephisto had imagined this moment many times, but the ending has always been consistent. This is where he would bow, thank Satan for his generosity, and walk away without ever looking back. Now, in the moment, Mephisto could only watch in horror. He didn't do 'horror' very well. Maybe amused, or interested, but never _horror. _

Satan glanced at him, then suddenly smirked. "Or is that," he said, a crazed light to his blue eyes, "what you had wanted me to say?"

Mephisto's blood ran cold. "You promised - "

"_Shaddap!_" Something slammed into his gut and sent him flying into a column. He had managed to slow time just enough to dodge, but it didn't work very well. It was Satan's blast, after all. They were _his _flames, and Mephisto couldn't touch them with what power he had. "I promised you _nothing!_" He turned back to Rin; the only thing Mephisto could see was one of his eyes and his hand. His eyes were closed and he almost looked peaceful, if it wasn't for the blood running down his face.

"Well," Satan amended, looking thoughtful, "I suppose I should think you for taking care of my son. Not," he added with a smile, "that it matters." Before Mephisto could say anything more, Satan began to laugh. He shook with the intensity of the fit, and suddenly the blue flames around Angel had vanished. The Paladin crumpled to the floor, either dead or unconscious.

Mephisto's eyes were wide as he stared forward, his hand holding the massive wound on his chest. His breathing was silent but harsh, harsh enough to hurt. His human body was never meant to be able to live through that, but somehow, it had. Satan was either being merciful, or cruel.

_Well, _he thought, turning his head towards the ceiling. _It seems like I've screwed up._

_It was supposed to be our birthday today._

Everyone had come over - Shiemi, Bon, Izumo, Shima, Konekomaru -and they were supposed to have a party. Yukio put the cake in the oven; Rin had left some instructions on a piece of paper before he left. The handwriting was hardly legible, but Yukio was a teacher. He managed. Shiemi had brought over some of the garden vegetables and fruits she had grown and was setting them on the counter. All of them had asked where Rin was, and each time Yukio heard himself say that Mephisto came looking for him and that he would be back soon.

He didn't know that he was lying at the time. Looking back, it was obvious something was wrong. The unease in his stomach twisted and grew, but he had trained years to not let his emotions get in the way, even if it was just for a birthday party.

"Rin's not back yet?" Shima sat down on the couch, some soda in hand. His light pink hair fell in front of his face as he opened the lid with a pop.

Shiemi watched the door, her face a bit worried. But she hid it with a smile. "He'll be back soon," she promised, but Yukio see how worried she actually was. All of them were, not that he looked at it. Everyone felt something was wrong but they all ignored it, all optimistically hoping that it was just because of nerves.

Then the ground shook, hard enough to make the lights hanging from the ceiling sway like a tree in the wind. Plates rattled and fell on the floor, crumbling to a thousand pieces. A cry of a demon cut through the air. Then another. Then another.

Yukio was already reaching for his cell phone while everyone else had run for the window. Izumo had called out her familiars; Nii-chan, Shiemi's familiar was constantly with her. Shuro was on Yukio's speed-dial and he called her now. She picked up on the first ring.

_"Four-eyes!" _she shouted into the phone. Roars and growls filled up the remaining static; she must be in the middle of a fight. _"Get yer butt over her! An emergency!"_

"What's going on?" Yukio demanded. He already had his dual-wield pistols in hand. They were beautiful things, the best of their kind, and he was secretly proud of them. "What's happening?!"

_"Demons have infiltrated the Vatican!" _she shouted. There was a scream on her end; someone nearby her must have been hurt. Shura cursed, then shouted, _"No one's sure how it happened, so don't ask!"_

"Where's Rin?" Yukio said. He shoved a fresh canister into the hilt and flicked the safety off.

_"I thought he was with you."_

Yukio cursed under his breath. "I'm heading to the Vatican now," he stated, then ended the call. He didn't want to know what else Shura had to say; probably something about being true to himself. Honestly, he didn't have time for that bull. Between his brother and his duty as an exorcist, there was nothing left over. Be honest?

Yukio grit his teeth. He _was _honest.

"What's going on?" Bon was the most level-headed of the group, though he was on par with Izumo. She had a defiant expression on her face.

Yukio frowned. "No one knows. Demons are in the Vatican."

Konekomaru's eyes widened. "But that's a purified area," he said. "They _can't - !"_

"They did," was Yukio's response, and he turned to Shiemi. "People have been hurt; Shiemi, can you go to the hospital wing and help?" She nodded bravely; it was a nice trait about her. No matter what, she always felt like she had to help and that, while often getting her in dangerous situations, always managed to pull through in the end. Well, that and she just had a natural knack at helping everyone. Shiemi was like a light, but instead of dimming those around her, she made them shine brighter. She was just that kind of person.

Yukio turned to Shima; he was still holding his soda. "Can you go with her?" he asked.

Shima grinned. "With pleasure," he replied with that dreamy look in his eyes. Yukio scowled, already regretting his idea but not paying any attention to it. Shima didn't like fighting, and Yukio knew that he wouldn't protest if given a minor roll. It was easier all around.

"Bon, Konekomaru, Izumo, you're with me," Yukio ordered. They all nodded and headed out into the night.

_So much for the birthday party, _Yukio thought, his finger over the trigger. _Guess the cake will have to wait until tomorrow._

* * *

_ D: I'm just going to apologize quickly. This chapter was really hard to write. Ridiculously hard. T_T and it's only gonna get worse until I finish up this little prequel thing and get to the real story. THE REAL STORY. :3_

_ Anyway, some of you might be wondering: Why Angel?! D': _

_ This is why. Most importantly, in the first episode, it was (1) mentioned that a Paladin is the only one who can handle a demonic possession by Satan. Basically, they won't die from it and the only reason that Shiro died was because he stabbed himself in the heart with the exorcist-brooch thing. (2) Angel always hated demons and this gave him one more reason to, not to mention that his name is ANGEL and he got possessed by SATAN. It struck me as ironic and kinda funny. And, finally, (3)rd reason I chose Angel is because I just don't like the guy. He ticks me off. Everything he does ticks me off, but in the beginning I thought well, whatever, that's just his character. AND THEN HE CUT OFF RIN'S FOOT AT THE ANKLE. RIGHT THERE. NO WARNING. JUST BOOM, CHECK IT OUT, YOUR FOOT FELL OFF. Such a jerk :(_

_ Anyway. Fight scenes ahead. 3 and soon this prequel will be over! yay!_

_ Stay Awesome, _

_ Rand0mSmil3z_


	3. Prologue 3 - Assaih

_heheheh you guys are awesome. You have no idea how happy it made me to find out that there are people who dislike Angel just as much as I do. It's almost like permission to just traumatize the poor guy. Anyway, SuperiorDimwit (did I ever mention that I love your name? Because I do) is just about the most awesome person in the world and is really helping me out. He let me know that not all Paladin can be possessed by Satan (according to the manga/anime, it was believed that Shiro was the only one who could survive it) and that demons possess people who are most like themselves. Anyway, we agreed to just plow ahead for the sake of this fanfic and ignore that silly rule x) _

_These are my excuses: Angel is an crazy [bleep]hole, Satan is a crazy [bleep]hole, and since they're similar they might be compatible (though I can imagine Angel violently denying this, but we'll ignore him . . .) Also . . . I can't think of anything for the Paladin rule. Let's just say that Angel's will to live and his hatred for demons kept him going through the possession. Pride is his number one thing, and being killed by (I hate to admit it) Rin's biological father would suck. _

_There. Now it's suddenly logical :D and I'll continue writing without regrets. _

_Welcome to chapter three, where [bleep] hits the fan. _

_(Yeah, I don't like cussing. You won't find it in this story. Only [bleeps]. You can fill in the blanks.)_

_Stay Awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_

_PS- I just realized that the spaces between the perspectives when it changes haven't shown up. I don't know why but I think I know how to fix it. We'll see._

_PPS - don't hate me for this chapter_

* * *

The Vatican was in a state of complete chaos.

The sounds on the streets was a mixture of guttural growls, screams, and the sound of things being blown to heaven above. Yukio ran through it all with Bon, Konekomaru, and Izumo on his heels. Izumo's familiars weren't too happy about the entire situation, but cooperated. Yukio knew that they tended to ignore Izumo at times; he hoped that this was not one of those times.

"Yukio!"

Shura shouted at him, her demon sword in hand. She wielded it like an elegant blade of mass destruction, cutting through any and all demons that got within a 3 meter radius of her.

"What's going on?" he demanded, immediately regretting his decision to bring the exwires here. There were too many demons, it was too dangerous, _why didn't he think things through? _

But it was too late. Too late. He pulled out his guns and began to fire, each bullet biting their target. Demons evaporated like mist burning away in the hot sun. Bon positioned himself between Shura and Yukio and began chanting one incantation while Konekomaru, standing beside him, chanted another. Izumo doused the battle field in purified rice-water, forcing the demons into the air. Four more shots fired. Four more killed.

Shura spun through the air, biting her thumb and running the blood alongside of the blade. In a flash she cut through the air and demons appeared out of the slash, devouring all the demons in its way. It was a lethal attack, one that Yukio was fortunate enough not to be on the wrong end of.

"I'm not sure!" she shouted back. "There was a sudden earthquake and then these demons began pouring out of the Vatican!"

"Why?!"

"_Like I said,_" Shura nearly growled, _"I'm not sure."_

Yukio shut his mouth. The first and only person who ticked off Shura ended up in the hospital for months. He wasn't planning on being the second.

"I have to go and look," he said. Unease was swirling in his gut again and he wondered, for a second, if Rin had anything to do with this. But he squelched the thought immediately; not even Rin, who was infamous for getting into trouble, could cause this sort of mess. _Wait, _he realized. _Where's . . .?_

"Do you know where Mephisto is?" Yukio asked. Three more shots echoed through the air when a pair of demons got to close. He was running out of bullets; he needed more, but he always kept more on his person. He would be fine, for now. _But if this keeps up . . ._

Shura shook her head, her pink hair with its yellow fringe flying in her face. "No," she stated, gritting her teeth. There was a pause when Bon and Konekomaru finished their mentra in unison. At least thirty demons popped like balloons and disintegrated in the air. Shura glanced at Yukio, and their eyes locked for a moment. Unspoken communication passed between them.

_ This sucks. _

Suddenly Shura turned to the nearest exorcist to her - a man that Yukio didn't know - and shouted, "Has anyone entered the Vatican yet?"

"O - Only the Paladin," the man replied, clearly shaken. Yukio could only imagine what went through his mind when Shura grabbed his collar. "No one else - "

"Thanks," Shura said, cutting him off. She turned to Yukio, still obviously ticked off. Yukio had no idea why though. He couldn't understand the minds of idiots, and Shura was ranked high on that list. _No, not idiot, _he corrected himself. Shura was actually quite smart, though she lacked any sort of common sense. _Just annoying._

"Let's go, four eyes," Shura stated, crossing her arms over her shoulder. She suddenly spun and cut through a demon. It seemed just as shocked as Yukio was. "I have a bad feeling about this," she continued as if nothing had happened.

Yukio swallowed hard. He had a bad feeling about this, too. "All right," he said, steeling himself. He turned to the other exwires, who seemed to sense what was going on. "We're going to the heart of the Vatican."

Something told him that he would regret this as well, but with he and Shura there, what could go wrong?

Bon scowled. "Fine," he said. "We'll go."

"Hey," Izumo exclaimed. "Don't go decided things for me. I didn't say anything."

Bon shot her a look. "You know you want to go too."

She flushed and didn't say anything else. Konekomaru looked as if he was going to throw up, but nodded bravely. With that, the five of them started to run into the Vatican, leaving the messy streets behind.

Mephisto got to his feet with some degree of difficulty. Shortly after Satan left and Rin vanished beyond the gate - and any hope of salvation - the gates black pit seemed to explode. Even know a heavy stream of demons poured out, right out of the ceiling and towards the streets. At this rate, Assaih would be taken over, and he couldn't have that. It was still a fledgling gate, however, that had gone out of control.

_But if I closed it . . . _

Mephisto squeezed his eyes shut. _ . . . Rin would be trapped in there forever. _

Rin? Or Assaih?

He took a deep breath. _No. _He couldn't let sentimentally get in the way. This should be an easy choice; after all, it was the world versus one boy. Yet why was this so difficult? Logically, he should have no difficulty making the decision. Logically, he should have made this decision right when the gate went out of control. _Logically, _he would never have made the gate in the first place. All of those exorcists missing in action, all of those years of planning, those years of waiting for this one moment were now sixteen years of bitter memories and regret.

Mephisto felt a headache beginning to brew. Satan wouldn't kill Rin, though it couldn't be guaranteed. However, Mephisto was pretty certain this was the case; the King of Gehenna wouldn't kill the Prince; perhaps, since Rin could also use the flames, Satan would use him as a weapon against Assaih.

_At least, _Mephisto thought, _he won't be killed outright. _

That decided the matter. Stifling a groan of pain, Mephisto began to head towards the gate. It would be simple. As Samael, the King of Time, he would only have to take the Gehenna gate's time and _reverse _it to the time where it didn't exist. Or, as also the King of Space - he was the one who created all of those keys, after all - he might be able to seal this gate in a different dimension, like what he did with Amaimon.

He grit his teeth. Neither option was practical in any way. The only way to guarantee the gate's destruction was the blue flames, but that . . . wasn't an option now.

Suddenly a thought came to him. The Gehenna gate was technically a demonic gate; therefore, had the same properties as a demon. Holy water would weaken it; perhaps an incantation or two would be able to pinpoint its weakness and weaken it further. Next would be the actual black tar itself; the childlike bodies constantly writhed in the mess, their sightless black eyes wide and their mouths stretched to the mouth where they were ripping off of the head. They were like the substance of the gate, the barrier between the dimensions; destroy them, and it should collapse on itself. That, while he himself rewound the gate's time.

Mephisto's lips curled in a thin grin. _It might actually work, _he realized. _It might just . . ._

The sounds of footsteps echoed behind him. Mephisto turned, surprised; he had thought that all of the exorcists would be fighting above ground.

Then he saw who it was, and the surprise withered away inside of him and was replaced with unease. However, he also crushed that feeling; he was a demon, not an emotionally unhinged human.

But even he could feel regret.

Yukio's eyes widened as his blood ran cold in his veins. _Impossible, _he told himself. _Impossible. _Beside him, he heard Shura's quick intake of breath. The exwires were silent, most likely in shock.

The first thing Yukio saw was Mephisto, standing with his back to them, though he was looking over his shoulder. His clothes were torn, his sleeves and white jacket-cape [_I'm sorry. I have no idea what that thing he wears is] _was burned and bloodied. His hat had been blown off; half of it had been ripped off. There was more blood on the floor and there was a dent in a column.

Behind Mephisto was Angel. He looked like he had crawled down into hell face-first and lived to tell about it. Blood freely ran out of his eyes, ears, and nose. His clothes were singed. Burnt flesh lingered in the dank air. Behind Angel was a mass of what looked like black, bubbling tar. _But not bubbles, _Yukio realized in horror. _Hands. _

Behind the pit of putrid black rot and tar were bodies. Dozens upon dozens of bodies, pushed up against the wall, their throats cut so that their lifeblood could soak through. Puddles of the scarlet liquid ran on the ground, though had dried in places. Blank eyes seemed to stare at him in accusation.

_Why haven't you come sooner?_

One of the exwires behind him threw up. Yukio didn't turn around to see who.

"Mephisto," Yukio whispered. His hands were shaking. He needed to be strong now but the shaking wouldn't stop, wouldn't stop, wouldn't stop . . .

Shura suddenly stepped in front of him. Hey eyes were narrowed to slits and, for a second, she looked part demon. If she actually was, Yukio probably wouldn't have been surprised.

"Mephisto, what is this?" she demanded, her voice high and loud.

Suddenly Yukio realized something. That wasn't a pit of bubbling tar; that was a Gehenna gate. Why hadn't he realized that sooner? The second thing Yukio noticed that Rin, who had gone with Yukio just moments earlier, wasn't here. He felt like he had been punched in the stomach and shot in the face all in one.

"Mephisto," Yukio whispered, his guns limp at his side. Panic was taking over; he could feel it, but he didn't care. Nothing cared, not right now. "Mephisto," he whispered again, looking the demon in the eye, "where's my brother?"

* * *

_And the [bleep] hits the fan._

_:3_

_I have nothing else to say. Stay Awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_


	4. Chapter 1 - Gehenna

_Four chapters in five days. Gah._

_Anyway, I'm thinking this is going to be a shorter chapter. Mostly . . . no, only Rin's POV. _

_And since I'm too lazy to respond to each review individually, I'll just make short statements here . . ._

_Toby: You got guts, dude. :) I respect you for that. No worries; I won't let my dislike of Angel get in the way of the storyline. I think that he and Rin should have made up in the last episode of the anime, like they fight together and develop a grudging respect at least. It was the biggest disappointment. _

_blackchaosaria2501: y-y-y-you WHAT?! Omigosh for real?! o_o you're like in the inner circle of all of the secrets. You have connections. You've just earned my undying respect._

_SuperiorDimwit: You will always have my undying respect. :D You're amazing. And no worries - I finish every story I write, and this one will be finished too! Your favorite felt like an Olympic gold medal haha_

_Okay I'm done. Enjoy chapter 4, and welcome to Gehenna._

* * *

_ There was a fire. _

_ A blue fire, small but bright, burning somewhere in the dark. Rin turned to it scowling, squinting his eyes to see it better. After wandering in the dark for so long, wandering with no hope of finding his way out, this was the first light he had seen in . . . how long? But oh well. Time didn't matter. There was no such thing as time here._

_ Rin took a few steps forward, his black fur-tipped tail wagging back and forth behind him. When he got closer the light jumped back slightly, beckoning him to follow._

_ A game. _

_ Rin chased after it. He couldn't lose the light; something primal stirred within him at the thought, at the thought that he might never make it out of here. He was so tired. So tired. So tired of walking around with no one to talk to, so tired of being lost in a place he didn't remember visiting, but he still ran. _

_ "Wait!" he shouted. The light was gaining distance on him, though every once in a while it would slow. It bobbed in the air like a ship out at sea and danced through the air as if it was in the middle of ballet. It seemed to be laughing at him then, without warning, the flame was extinguished. _

_ Rin stopped short, hand still outstretched, with his blue eyes wide. "It's gone," he whispered to himself, mostly to ward off the heavy silence that was weighing down him once again. "It's gone." He was lost again, lost on his own in the dark. _

_ He resisted the urge to sit down and just cry. He wasn't a child anymore; he was something different, something between a man and a demon, so instead he quickly wiped his eyes and forced himself to walk. _

_ He hated this place._

_ No; not just this place. Everything. Rin simply hated. He hated the dark, hated the blue flame, _hated _how it suddenly disappeared after getting his hopes up. He hated everyone that had abandoned him, hated . . ._

_ Stop._

_ Rin squeezed his eyes shut and held his head. Stop, he told himself again. Just stop. _

_ Laughter echoed in the distance._

_ . . . but maybe that was just his imagination. _

_..._

Rin opened his eyes, wincing at his new collection of bruises. Everything hurt. His right arm and leg were stiff; they must have healed while he had been asleep, though they were still fragile. A headache pounded between his eyes and Rin rolled over to groan into the pillows.

_Pillows?_

His eyes snapped open and he sat up. These pillows were on an entirely different world from his own back in the dorm. Those constantly bunched up inside, but these were light and fluffy. Now that he noticed, he wasn't in his own room either. The covers were obviously high quality and the bed frame was made from rich red wood. The mattress was like touching air.

Rin's head was on a swivel. He didn't recognize this place at all. There were no windows on the walls and no pictures, only a navy blue paint that still looked wet in some places. The wood floor itself was worn, but a rich rug had been thrown over the top of it. A dresser had been shoved in the corner, and a small stuffed animal that looked strangely like Kuro was limp on top of it.

He turned back to the covers, frowned. _Where am I? _He closed his eyes, trying to remember.

And everything seemed to hit him all at once.

His sixteenth birthday. Making a cake. Mephisto came over and took him into the Vatican. The dead bodies, the blood, the black lava, the blue eyes staring back at him. Mephisto only watching as Satan grabbed him. His memory went dark after that.

His head snapped up, his eyes wide. His stomach twisted in his gut. _Satan must of threw me in, _he thought in horror. _And that means . . . I'm in Gehenna. _

Rin felt like he was going to be sick. For some reason, he was wearing a white cotton shirt and white baggy pants that was tied around his waist with a drawstring, but how he got into these clothes seemed like a minor detail now. In moments he had lurched out bed and was staggered to the door, his right leg trying to give up on him. Every breath hurt, but he didn't care.

He grabbed the door with his good hand and slammed the weight of his body against it. It opened unexpectedly - it wasn't locked after all - and he landed in a heap in a hallway. The floor out here was made from polished stone, and chandeliers lined the entire stretch of it and provided it with light. Zane, however, wasn't here to admire the architecture. He was already running down one end, just running with nowhere to run to.

No one was roaming the halls and he saw no one else. This place, Rin figured a castle or palace or something, seemed to be entirely empty. Cobwebs hung in the corners and draped down the wooden walls. His breathing was ragged in his throat and every step made his head feel like a railroad spike was being hammered into it.

_Whack._

His right leg collapsed underneath him with no warning. Rin pressed his right arm against himself to protect it and hit the ground hard. His left shoulder took the brunt of the fall; he made sure to protect his head with his hand. He lay there for a few minutes, panting.

Sudden footsteps hurried him to his feet again, but his right leg wasn't cooperating. The place where it broke, right in the middle of his thigh, had rebroken. The newly-healed bone hadn't been strong enough to sprint yet. Rin grit his teeth and more-or-less crawled to a wall, to hind behind a massive vase. He covered his mouth to muffle his breathing.

The footsteps got closer. Rin's heart hammered away in his chest and he pressed his legs against him a little tighter, hugging them with his free hand. If he was in Gehenna, this was a demon coming towards him. He wished he had his sword, but he didn't know where it was. The only thing that he could think of was that it had been taken away from him.

Suddenly the footsteps stopped. Rin could see one dark shoe in front of him, on the other side of the vase. He held his breath, sweat beading on his forehead. _Keep on walking, _he thought. _Keep on walking, keep on walking, keep on -_

Suddenly the vase shattered, though none of the fragments landed on him. Rin watched, eyes wide, through the spiraling pieces of ceramic. Someone with dark hair was staring back at him, a slender yet obviously muscular man, who was wearing a nice suit. Light stubble dusted his chin and bright blue eyes, the bluest eyes Rin had ever seen. The man smiled down at him, obviously amused.

A smirk formed across his face. "Hello, son."

* * *

_ So I don't know what Satan looks like (I mean, it's not like I ever met the guy) but this is what I imagine him to be. Back to the fallen angel thing, he has got to be handsome and maybe even beautiful. Black hair because he's a demon. Blue eyes because, well, you know why. Why slender? Rin and Yukio are, but it's not like their skinny (like Konekomaru). More like 'in shape' type of slender is what I'm going for. _

_ Anyway, to everyone in the USA, happy 4th of July! If you're not from the USA, I hope your July 4th was amazing. :) And I hope today is amazing for all of you as well!_

_ And thanks for all of the reviews guys! I read and love every single one of them! _

_ Stay awesome, _

_ Rand0mSmil3z_


	5. Chapter 2 - Assaih

_Hey guys. Just got back from vacation! :) It was amazing and pretty dang funny. Not only was I mistaken to be my father's wife (blech), i was one of the few on the boat that didn't get sick and a few others and i sang the 'the ring of fire' song pretty much the entire time, my friend kissed a prostitute after winning a bet (it was a game where you have to hammer in a nail into a tree stump with the blade of an ax...harder than it sounds), and I was nearly marooned on an island because the dingy's engine gave out (there was a spider as big as my hand on the beach too . . . not fun). _

_Anyway, I won't waste your time with any more rants. Enjoy chapter two. :)_

_(and replies to reviews at the end; there are too many to go through them all, but I'll do the best I can!)_

_..._

Yukio stared at the ceiling, his head on his pillow. A fan gently spun, blowing about the stale air and disturbing the lose paper on his desk. They fluttered to the ground, forgotten.

_"Where is my brother?" _he had asked. _"Where is my brother?"_

But Mephisto hadn't replied. Hadn't had the need to. Everyone knew where Rin disappeared to, and everyone knew who put him there.

The Vatican was in uproar, but for a different reason. A betrayal was the worst offense in a world built on trust - trust to guard each other's backs, trust in yourself, trust in the weapons you held - and Mephisto tore the framework down like wet wallpaper. Angel, the Paladin, had been found by the Gate, his body broken with blood dripping from his eyes, mouth, nose. Now he was in the hospital wing, tubes sticking out of him like a twisted octopus as the exorcist healers worked on removing the heavy miasma out of his body and pieced him apart, bone by bone, stitch by stitch. They hadn't believed he would make it; no one had but, twenty-four hours later, the man woke up, alive and kicking. Literally.

Yukio moved his arms to cover his eyes; his glasses rested on the nightstand by his bed. Shura, bruised and beat up, was now beating up everyone around her in verbal warfare. Mephisto, locked up in a cell with holy metal chaining him down, had taken the brunt of it. The first interrogation, she practically had to be dragged out. The second she remained her composure until the now-ex headmaster commented that her boobs were falling out of her bikini top. The third time she stood in the corner beside Yukio, glowering down on Mephisto as someone else took over the post. If looks could kill, the man - _no, demon - _would only be a pile of ash on the floor.

Yet, during the entire exchange, Mephisto remained utterly silent. It was as if he had decided to sacrifice Rin on a whim, something that Yukio could not forgive.

Could _never _forgive.

He sat up, groaning when his stiff muscles protested. A week had passed; the crime scene had been cleaned, the Exwires had all begrudgingly gone home under orders, and everyone generally left him alone. Shura had tried to talk to him once but he just walked past her like she didn't even exist. She hadn't like that. Punched him. Yelled at him a bit, but it was like her mouth moved and nothing came out. Then she stalked off.

A headache pulsed in his forehead and Yukio leaned forward, head in his hands, wondering how did everything go so wrong. How could his life, built from hard work, sweat, tears, and buried emotions, could crumble away so quickly? Be reduced to nothing in a few short hours?

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Yukio glanced at it . . . and turned away. Maybe they'll go away if they think that no one -

"Open up, four-eyes," growled a voice. "I know yer in there."

_Shura._

Yukio got to his feet and opened the door, more to preserve his dorm room than anything else. He didn't want her breaking down his door again. It was just replaced. "What?" His voice was rough from exhaustion; he couldn't remember the last time he had gotten more than one or two hours of sleep, and that was between running around following order after order, all of which he volunteered for.

She frowned at him. "You look awful."

He wasn't surprised. He was still wearing the same clothes from two days ago; he had gotten his first break minutes ago and that had been forced upon him. Changing clothes seemed like such a waste of time at the moment.

"Go look in the mirror," he replied.

Shura looked upset for a moment, then uncharacteristically sighed and gave up. She looked pretty bad too, now that he noticed; her red hair was a mess in its pony-tail, dark bruises were under her eyes from stress, lack of sleep, or both, and her skin seemed paler than usual. "Look," she said slowly, "I'm going to apologize in advance."

Yukio's eyebrows raised in surprise. "For - ?"

But she held up a hand, cutting him off. "Shut up, don't interrupt me, and listen." Yukio snapped his mouth close. "I got three things to tell you. The first is that school has been shut down until further notice; all of the students are being enrolled into their local schools, including you."

"But - !"

"Shut up," she hissed. Yukio almost took a step back. "I just told you to not interrupt me, so don't. I haven't slept in two days and don't want to commit a felony right now." He nodded in agreement; he didn't want that either. "Anyway, the second thing - and the one I apologized for - is that I hacked into the system for you." Yukio almost asked when she had learned how to hack, but knew better. "I changed your age to twenty-one; a legal adult, and got you a new ID. That means no school for you."

"Why did you do that for me?" he asked, the question slipping out of his mouth before he could stop it.

But Shura, to his surprise, only smiled wickedly. "Why I made you twenty-one years old when eighteen is the age where you're a legal adult? Because you can't drink at eighteen, that's why, and I needed a new buddy. And also," she said, sobering, "is that I need you here, with me. And besides . . . I'm sure you want to find your brother."

Yukio felt his throat tighten. He did. More than anything. "Thank you."

She smiled, a hesitant smile. "Don't thank me yet, scardy four-eyes. I mentioned three things."

He blinked; he had forgotten. That was odd. He usually never forgot stuff like that. "And the third thing?"

Shura's voice held a deadly calm. "Mephisto would like to speak to you. Alone."

...

_So. I heard you hate cliff hangers. :D_

_From now on, the chapters will switch from Yukio's point of view to Rin's. It helps me keep track of what's going on; the details of the story had gotten hazy during the month I had been gone. It'll also help me keep everything in chronological order because keeping track of how much time had passed is hard (not to mention I'm writing a novel right now. It's 275 pages at the moment, looking to be around 500 when finished. My goal is to finish August 30th (since that's when I start college). No worries; I won't abandon this story to get that one done sooner. :) I love you all too much for that._

_Stay awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_

ParadigmShift26: _No worries; Amaimon will show up eventually. :) And I'll create the demon-kings on a need-basis. I have already created one king, but you'll meet this dude later :)_

Ritsu: _I didn't plan for this to be a romance-anything, but plans can change and i forgot what the plans were in the first place. We'll see._

Richard: _Richard. Oh Richard. Do you mind if I use that quote in later chapters? That's just gold. (and it's Satan. not satin, but the mental image of Rin running away from satin in blind terror just made me love your comment even more)_


	6. Chapter 3 - Gehenna

_*****THE SUMMARY CHANGED YOU GUYS CHECK IT**** OUT*****_

_Hey guys! :) I'll get straight to the point: My plan is to update EVERY SINGLE DAY. I will be alternating perspectives. That said, if I miss a day and someone whines about it, I will write you a BEAUTIFUL letter and post it right here. 3 Answers to comments on the end. _

_Enjoy chapter 3. Much love, _

_Rand0mSmil3z_

_*Listen to __Cups by Anna Kendrick__ and __Unwell by Matchbox Twenty__ when reading this chapter. Trust me on this. :) *_

* * *

_Well. _

_ This sucks. _

Rin lightly tugged on the manacles around his wrists that chained him down to the bed. After his escape the first day - and the eighteen more throughout the week - he had been chained to the bed. Fabric between the cold metal and his wrists kept his skin from being bloodied further, though the pale bandages had already darkened with brick red. Why they bothered, he had no idea. The bruise on his cheek still throbbed - a token of his first attempt. It had happened so fast, even the memory was a blur. One second he was behind the vase, the next second it had broken. He had heard a voice, muffled by stinging pain, and then utter darkness as he slipped into unconsciousness. His cheek had swollen considerably, but now the fragile skin had turned from a dark blue to molted yellow and faint green.

The rest of his many cuts and bruises were his fault. His torn-up wrists were because he panicked and fought the chains with everything he had, resulting in throbbing skin and exhaustion. His rib was from his third or fourth attempt; they had all blurred together at his point. He had been sprinting down the hall when he took a turn too fast and slammed against the corner, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He had lain there, gasping like a fish out of water, before he got to his feet. But by that time it had been too late; his escape was already known and everyone in . . . wherever he was had cornered him. He had been able to keep them away with his flames, but then suddenly his flames had slipped from his paper-thin control. His memory stopped there.

He closed his eyes, chest tightening as he tried to draw his legs closer to him, but the chains around his ankles stopped them short. He wished that he was back home, back with Yukio in the dorm and all of the others in the class room. Even the Vatican would have been a welcome relief from _this, _this uncertainty and stress of not knowing. He wasn't sure if he was being kept alive or simply not being killed.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Rin's heart jumped to his throat and he pulled at the chains again, desperate.

"I am to change your bandages," came a soft voice. He glanced over; a girl dressed in rags was by the door. She was somewhere around his age. Her silver hair was cropped and one of her violet eyes was covered by an eye patch. A thick scar peeked out from the bottom. However, what unnerved Rin the most was that he voice, her face, held no emotion whatsoever.

Rin, not in the mood for trusting anyone, especially not someone with a pretty face, scar or not, settled to simply glare. She didn't seem to notice or, if she did, she didn't care. Instead she wheeled in some sort of metal cart. At first Rin thought it would be torture devices or something similar, and a trill of fear went through him. However, all she did was pull out some fresh bandages. Rin watched her with narrowed blue eyes. His gut twisted when she reached for him.

"Don't touch me," he hissed. The demon-girl only stared at him uncomprehendingly.

"I am supposed to change your bandages."

"Don't." His voice was a low growl, the sound of a predator backed into a corner. "Go away."

"I am supposed to change your bandages." The tone of her voice did not change.

Rin bared his teeth, showing off his canines. They always made everyone back home uncomfortable; he wasn't sure if it would work here though. "_Don't. Touch. Me._"

She blinked at him, the faint light of the candles on the dresser dancing in her violet eyes, when she reached for him again. Rin thrashed, trying to get away, but only succeeded in tearing the skin in his wrists again. The next time he hissed, it was from the pain.

The next thing he knew, her thin hand was locked on his jaw, forcing his head deeper into the pillow and putting pressure on his windpipe. His eyes widened as he tried to breathe; each breath was a struggle, each breath was a small victory. Her fingers were thin, boney even, and icy to the touch. Her eyes were just as cold as she glared down at him.

"If you stop moving," she stated, "I will let you breath."

He hesitated when, as the fingers squeezed tighter and his vision began to fade into white, he made a gurgling noise in the back of his throat. Immediately the hand that choked him let go and Rin sucked in greedy, desperate breathes back into his screaming lungs.

"I am supposed to change your bandages," she said again, then pulled out a key. "I am going to let you go now," she said, her eyes unblinking, "and you will not run away. I am faster. Do you understand."

Rin glared at her with everything he had. The manacles around his wrists prevented him from using his flames; with bare-to-bare skin contact, they burned like the fires from hell. He learned that quickly and, biting his tongue, curtly nodded.

She leaned over him and unlocked his right hand. He watched himself flex the fingers and twist his wrist, enjoying the new freedom. However, she grabbed his hand in a death-lock and brutally peeled away the soiled bandages. He bit back a cry as the healing scabs were ripped off, only to bleed again.

However, the demon-girl didn't seem to notice the damage she inadvertently cause. Instead she reached over to her cart and pulled off a white plastic bottle.

Rin swallowed hard, his nerves fluttering in his stomach. "What's that?" he asked. When she didn't reply, he asked in a louder voice, "What's that?"

"Cleansing alcohol," was her curt reply. She flicked her violet eye to him. "This will sting," she declared, and before Rin could move she poured a decent amount over his battered wrist.

Rin bit into his tongue against the scream of pain, tasting blood as it felt like his skin was being seared like a brand, bubbling white as the alcohol killed the bacteria. He strained his one arm against its chains as he tried to jerk his other arm away, but she held it firm; he idly noted that she was many times stronger than he was, something that caught him off guard. Within moments she had bandaged the wrist with practiced efficiency, and moments more had rechained it to the bed.

However, when she reached for his other wrist, he snapped his arm back so fast he could almost hear the bone scraping bone underneath its skin. "Don't touch me," he hissed again. "Go away."

"I am supposed - "

_"I don't care!" _Rin screamed. _"Go away!"_

The demon-girl blinked at him. "I have orders," she stated, as if this answered all of his questions.

_Orders? From who? _Rin briefly wondered, but he put those thoughts aside. "Well, I order you to go away," he hissed, blue eyes flashing. He could feel his flame stir inside of him like a wild thing, screaming for the desperate release he couldn't give.

The demon-girl blinked her violet eye then, to his surprise, bowed. "As you wish, your majesty," she said in a soft voice. Then, without another word, grabbed her cart and began to wheel it away.

Zane watched her go and, when the door finally closed, took a shuddering breath. His frayed nerves, worn thin by the week of constant stress and uncertainty, had almost reached their breaking point. He could feel it and wasn't sure if he could handle another day of this . . .

His eyes burned and he squeezed them shut, forcing back the tears. Not here. He couldn't _wouldn't _show any sign of weakness here.

_What would Yukio do? _he asked himself, forcing himself to be calm as his heart hammered inside of his chest. _Well, Yukio would already have an escape plan. Maybe a dozen. _

"Heck," Rin whispered with a choked laugh, "he wouldn't even be in this mess in the first place. He w-would have just sh-shot Satan and . . ." His voice trailed off as an icy tear slid down his cheek, then another.

He bit his lip and covered his head with his arm. _Oh god._

* * *

_Did the music help? _

_ Anyway. Writing this depressed me, so I'll keep this short. The 'demon-girl' has a name, but you won't find out until later. She's also my OC but no worries; she isn't a Mary Sue Ima-fall-in-love-with-you OC. I won't go into her back story or details since that will be explained later. _

Crystal de Angelo: _I'm actually german haha_

SuperiorDimwit: _thanks for letting me know about the story's atmosphere :) as the author, it's really hard to tell since I know what I'm going for . . . but people might feel totally different. Thank you so much for everything!_

Emily Blue Paw: _heheheheh :3 by the way, have you ever read the Warriors series? Your name reminded me of the names of the characters. _

_ That's all. Everyone who reviewed, you are amazing people 3 and everyone else, please review! It improves the story and quality of the later chapters, I promise :) not to mention that a lot of you have good ideas and I could incorporate some into this story (if it fits, it ships!)_


	7. Chapter 4 - Assaih

_Hey guys! Here's another daily update! :) I don't really have anything to say besides that. Umm I'm writing this in the morning because I am so incredibly busy the rest of the day (it's true; I have a life xD) and tomorrow I'll be teaching a friend how to drive (he should have gotten his license three years ago but there was family stuff and yadiyadiyada . . . basically, it's not his fault) and I'm really hoping that I won't die. _

_ (And by the way. All I know of Japanese is thank you and d**m it (oh, the things anime teaches you) and am wonder if the characters they use can be arranged alphabetically (like English can). Just curious, and plus it appears later in the story. Just go with it or pretend that it's in English if it doesn't work. I'm sure Yukio can more or less speak it.) _

_Anyway, here's chapter 4. Comments at the end. (fantastic)_

_..._

Yukio, after taking a quick shower and changing into fresh clothes, joined Shura back in his room, where she had been waiting. It was strange at how much his mood improved just by feeling clean, though the constant rock of dread that had settled in his stomach still pulsed with every rapid beat of his heart.

Shura glanced up at him. In her hands was his manga; usually Yukio would have been utterly exasperated, but all she did was remind her how many times Rin had stolen them and how many times he had caught his brother reading underneath the covers. The memory sent another stab of pain through him like a needle to his heart.

"Let's go," he snapped, pushing the thoughts out of mind. He hadn't meant his voice to be so harsh, but all Shura did was throw the manga on his bed - something that had once annoyed him as well, but no longer. (After all, he had them all arranged alphabetically in his desk dresser.)

She did, however, shoot him an annoyed glance. "Don't take that tone with me," she said. "I'm _helping _yah dumb butt, remember that."

Yukio scowled, but made sure that he didn't sound to upset after that. She had a point . . . and she wasn't the one he was angry at.

Mephisto.

He had once respected that man, demon or no, if only because his father once had before he died. Now, with his father gone forever and possibly Rin as well, the only thing Yukio could had for the ex-headmaster with a lot of anger and a need to punch him multiple times in the face.

"Shura." Shura and Yukio were now down the steps and heading towards the exit. She shot him a glance, and he continued before he changed his mind, "I - I don't think that I can do this."

Her eyebrows shot up. "You wha?"

"I said . . ." _Nope. _His mind changed and he turned away, berating himself. "Never mind. Let's hurry."

Shura paused for a moment, studying his face, before sighing and walking on. "Look," she said slowly, "nobody would be surprised if you decided not to go. Heck," she added, scratching her head, "I almost encourage it."

Yukio shot her a surprised glance.

"Well, first of all, he is _technically _still your legal guardian . . . it's the only reason why he could demand to see you personally, by the way. Should I have mentioned it earlier?"

He shook his head. "Not important."

"True." She turned away, frowning, and suddenly a wicked grin spread on her full lips, a wicked grin thinly layered with a shining lip gloss. "_Hey . . . _want me to loop the security cameras?" she asked. "That way you can talk to him _alone, _and then give him a good punch for me. Sound good?"

It sounded fantastic. But Yukio couldn't accept; he had already broken one law with his age. He was still wondering how to avoid every exorcist that knew him, or make up some lie about why he had to stay. It was all very complicated and only added with the weight of stress he carried. A gust of wind brushed past his face; Yukio brushed his hair out of his eyes with an impatient swipe. "No," he said, "I'll talk to him with the security cameras on. Besides," he added dryly, "wouldn't want him opening up a Gehenna gate and sending me to Gehenna when no one was. . ."

His voice trailed off.

Shura glanced at him, expecting for him to continue, but he had frozen on the road, eyes wide and staring off into the distance.

"Yukio?" She flicked his forehead - something that she had done ever since he was little - and his eyes blinked as he snapped out of it.

"I got it," he murmured, turning back to her. A dangerous smile played on his lips; if they weren't friends, it would have sent shivers up and down Shura's spine.

"You got what?" Shura asked. "A nasty case of the flu?"

He ignored her. He did that a lot, now that she thought about it. "No no no, not that," he said impatiently, "_Rin._"

She blinked. "You got Rin?"

Oh god, she loved doing this. She could practically see the veins in Yukio's neck bulge and the impatience and frustration in his voice making it just a _tad _higher than what it was supposed to. "No!" he snapped. "I know how to _help _him! To get him _out!_"

"I know," Shura said. Yukio blinked at her, uncomprehending for a moment, then squeezed the bridge of the nose with his fingers. It occurred to Shura that he hadn't slept right since Rin left . . . maybe she should leave the teasing for when they were both a little more secure in their health.

"Well, if you _know_," Yukio snapped, "then tell me: how are we going to do it?"

"Well, I was waiting for that part!" she snapped back, blood pressure rising. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't been sleeping right either.

"Then shut up and don't interrupt me," Yukio shouted, quoting her, then blinked a few times as he regained composure. Shura watched in fascination as angry-I-will-kill-you Yukio turned back into I-ran-out-of-bothers-to-give Yukio. He took a deep breath, let it all out, and then said in a disturbingly calm voice, "Mephisto can make a Gehenna Gate. Rin is in Gehenna. Mephisto makes a Gate, we go to Gehenna, bring Rin home."

"One problem. Mephisto can't make a Gehenna Gate in his cell," she pointed out, but then the realization dawned on her and she grinned, a grin that would have made Satan jealous. "Unless you're suggesting . . ."

"That's right," Yukio continued in a hurry. "We're going to have to break Mephisto out of jail."

...

_Tada! Chapter four done. Reply time!_

Hartanna: _Ooooooh shiiiiiiiiiiiiip did I really do that?! D: Zane is actually the made character of my novel; I must have accidently written it without thinking. I caught myself doing that a few times this chapter. _

DeepAzure: _Thanks for the suggestion! But no, I'm not turning this story into a yaoi. I had to look it up and I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean what you think it means. This is a personal thing, but I don't even cuss in my stories. I suggest you look under the rating M for that genre. Sorry!_

Guest: _Seriously? More updates? I'm updating every single day, what more do you want?! D:_

Toby: _Don't even worry! :) Angel plays a huge roll in this story later on - a good one, by the way, because I know that you like him. But I can't say any more xD I don't want to spoil it!_


	8. Chapter 5 - Gehenna

_Hey guys! Yesterday I saw the Wolverine movie with my best friend since pretty much forever, all the way since preschool :) It was so amazing. Gosh I love fight scenes. The Japanese Samurai Iron Man caught me by surprise, and so did one other scene that I could not repeat because I'd turn bright red and my family would wonder what I REALLY wrote during my free time._

_Anyway, in an hour I'm teaching a friend how to drive (yikes!) and then may or may not see another movie with a friend and her family. Hopefully the decide on Pacific Rim . . . that movie looks so intense. Giant robots beating the snot out of the other. So much yes right there. _

_Comments at the end, and enjoy chapter five. _

_[SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE! I WAS WORKING ON IT IN THE MORNING AND WAS OUT ALL DAY . . . FORGOT ABOUT IT UNTIL NOW D:]_

* * *

_The sky was burning._

_ Fires singed the clouds a hellish scarlet hue. Screams filled the air. The warm earth, heated from the hot air and pounding feet, was damp and muddy with dark, sticky liquid. Strange rocks littered the valley; broken swords gleamed orange in the fire light, arrows lay scattered on the ground like fallen chopsticks, a helmet torn in half. Rin fell to his knees, knocked off balance from a thrust with a shield. He glanced up; someone stood above him, tall above the mass of bodies that pressed against each other on the battlefield, with a gun in his slender hands. Rin growled at him, the sword in his hand shining blue. _

_ "Look at what you've become!" shouted the figure. It was a familiar voice but lost among the shroud of memory, forgotten in the past. _

_ Rin got to his feet, the metal plates soundlessly sliding on each other as they accustomed themselves to his every movement. Hard sheets of the dark metal cocooned his chest and back; more of the light armor covered his thighs, legs, arms. Even his fingers were protected by thin sheets, as were his shoulders; here, the armor jutted out slightly, three separate plates of metal sharpened to a fine point. He had lost his helmet long ago, but it didn't matter. He hated that thing anyway, hated how it obstructed his blue-tinted vision of the battlefield. _

_ Rin grabbed his sword and cut upward; the figure jumped back, over another grotesquely-shaped rock._

_ But not a rock, Rin realized. A body. A dead, twisted body, bent in an unnatural shape due to her thin spine being rent in two. The girl's face was pale, a stark contrast against her dark clothes. A pointed ear lightly poked out of her silver hair, stained scarlet with blood. Her expression was one of pure terror, her unseeing violet eyes open and her mouth warped in a silent scream. _

_ Dead. _

_ Rin tore his gaze away and fixed his eyes back on the man before him. He hated; hated the humans who killed the demons so carelessly, thoughtlessly, as if they were ants being trampled underfoot. What right did they have to sever another life apart from there's, demon or not?_

_ How was this fair? The exorcists had promised protection; some even went as far as to say equality, if Rin and those under him joined his side. Rin had agreed; after all, it was the first good news in months. _

_ His blue eyes scanned the battlefield, at the fires spitting out black smoke in the distance and the innumerable mass of bodies battling each other, their skin shined with sweat and darkened by blood. Demons and humans weren't as different as the humans liked to believe. They all bleed the color red. _

_ Rin flicked his eyes to the familiar stranger holding the gun. He hated, hated so much he could barely hold it all in. The demon inside of him, the other half of his soul, screamed for sweet release. Rin remembered a time, hazy in the memories, where he had to struggle every day to contain his flames. But here, in Gehenna, who was to stop him? Who had the right?_

_ "You work for god?" Rin growled to the exorcist. The beast inside of him screamed, wreaked havoc inside of him, demanded obedience, demanded freedom. _

_ "Rin!" the man called. "Stop this!"_

_ "Well," the Prince of Gehenna continued, flames bursting in his hands, "tonight, you will meet your - "_

Rin's eyes snapped open. His heart hammered in his chest as he breathed hard, a cold sweat beading on his brow. _A dream, _he told himself, repeated to himself like a mantra. _It was only a dream. _He closed his eyes, feeling a bit nauseous; he could still feel the heat stinging his eyes, the screams tearing the sky in two. He could feel his flames inside of him, stirring deep in his chest, demanding blood for the lives lost.

His nerves frayed, he took deep breathes until the adrenaline rush wore off. He was so tired, so incredibly tired, and he didn't know when he closed his eyes again.

When he woke again, to his surprise and relief, the chains had been removed from his wrists and ankles. For a moment he wondered who did it, but then decided he didn't particularly cared. He twisted his arms around, reveling in the movements, then threw his legs off of the bed and got to his feet. His toes tingled from the blood flow and he took a few cautious steps. When he didn't fall over he headed to the door and checked the knob.

Locked.

He wasn't that surprised. Suddenly he felt a twinge on his wrists and ankles; when he pulled away the bandages to check, he realized that the sore and broken skin had stitched itself back together again . . . though it had left a scar. He ignored that and pulled up his shirt instead - it was fresh, he noticed - and was pleased when the ribs weren't sore as well. His lips weren't cracked either.

_Maybe it was the metal, _he wondered around. _Maybe that's why it didn't heal before. _In all honesty, when he first became a demon, it had scared him when he figured out just how quickly his wounds regenerated, though he had never admitted it to anyone.

Suddenly his stomach growled. He grimaced and tried the door again; he didn't want to escape anymore. He was done with that and besides, he was done being chained to beds. His muscles, sore and cramped from being in the same position for so long, might have already recovered, but the memory was fresh in his mind.

A knock on the door snapped him out of his thoughts and Rin, startled, took a step back. It opened and the silver-haired girl from yesterday was on the other side, still in her rags. Her violet eye watched him blankly while the other was hidden behind the black eye patch. Her silver hair was messy on her head and, for the first time, Rin noticed she had chains on her wrists and ankles.

She lightly bowed to him. "I have come to bring you food." Like before, her voice held no emotion.

Rin didn't like her very much, though the chains she wore tugged at his heart in sympathy. "Thanks."

For the first time, an emotion sparked in her eyes - utter confusion - but vanished moments later. "I have come to bring you food," she repeated, and opened the door wider to bring in the cart.

For a moment, Rin wondered if he should make a break for it; just run out of the room and down the hall like nobody's business. But, when he thought about it, the food was _here._

The door closed with a click and the demon-girl wheeled the cart to the bed without so much as blinking at him. With practiced hands she set the tray down on the plush covers and pulled off the lid, revealing the instant ramen in the metal bowl. It smelled like spice and warm broth, the kind that he made for Yukio or himself whenever they got a cold.

The scent made his stomach growl, almost painfully, but Rin wasn't nearly as clueless as people believed him to be. It could be poisoned or . . . or something. _He _didn't know, and eyed the ramen suspiciously from his spot by the far wall as the demon-girl made it look nice, almost like royalty.

His stomach growled again and knotted. How long had it been since he had eaten?

And that reminded him of his birthday, and the cake that he had been making. Happy birthday to him.

Rin bit his lip and pushed those thoughts aside. If he messed up, he would die here and never have another again, or worse - live long enough to see himself become mad, trapped in Gehenna like a pet, and simply let the flames free . . .

"Where am I?" he demanded, trying to distract himself. He could taste the sweet spice in the air, the ginger and the warmth of the noodles. It almost made him drool right there.

The demon-girl glanced at him, her one good eye fixed on his. "The Royal Palace," she replied.

"Where?"

"Your room."

_My room? _Rin blinked in surprise and turned to look at the room again. He had figured it was a guest room, or even a fancy prison cell. That's what it felt like. "This isn't my room," he practically growled. "My room is back home."

Her voice was flat. "This is your home."

"It's not," Rin stated, his temper flaring. "My home is in Assaih, not here. Not in this place."

"This," she said slowly, "has always been your home." For the first time, Rin heard a tinge of emotion; jealousy? He nearly laughed; why on earth would she be jealous of _him_, the son of Satan, no better than an animal? The only thing that kept him sane was his human half, the part that never was killed away despite all those years being treated like the plague in school.

_A demon. _

He smiled to himself; a smile that Lucifer might have made moments before he fell from heaven.

_If only they knew. _

* * *

_The end! I'll make it fast because it's late and I want to work on my novel . . . trying to overcome my writer's block. Or, more specifically, how-the-heck-am-I-supposed-to-word-this? Emotions are always the hardest to put into words, but I try. _

SkyHana: _So, to clarify again, Zane is from my novel, not Rin's demon name or something, though the idea was clever. I'll fix that eventually. _

Dowgma: _Hahahahah only for you :P And dude, if you thought of an amazing scene, PM it to me and I'll see if I can fit it in a later chapter (and , of course, I'll give you credit before the chapter if it's used) And thank you! :D_

Hartanna: _Don't worry. They have something up their sleeve. ;) _


	9. Chapter 6 - Assaih

_Hey guys! :) You know what makes me laugh? When someone says, 'please update'. It makes me laugh with ANGER BECAUSE __**OH MY GOSH**__ YOU GUYS I'M UPDATING EVERY SINGLE DAY. I DONT EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH CLEARER I CAN GET. __**UPDATES. EVERY SINGLE DAY.**__ I DON'T CARE IF YOU ASK PLEASE OR NOT. IF ONE MORE PERSON ASKS ME FOR ANOTHER UPDATE I'LL SCREAM._

Kapeesh? You want updates? You WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW.

_Okay. Rant over. Comments at the end, like usual. I'm eating a bagel so hopefully the cream cheese won't fall on the keyboard. Enjoy chapter 6. :D_

* * *

Every Yukio had to admit that Mephisto looked pretty bad. The cell was smelled dank, the walls coated with a thin layer of slime. Water dripped from the ceiling; perhaps one of the water pipes had cracked from age and no one had bothered to fix it for a while. Dark mold grew in the corners but the chains that bound the ex-headmaster to the wall were polished to a shine. Holy metal never rusted and never broke to a demons influence, just as it bound their powers and took away their extreme strength and regenerative abilities.

Mephisto himself was covered in bruises that couldn't heal, no doubt from the many interrogations for answers he would not say. He gaudy garb had been replaced for a simple gray shirt and pants, though it desperately needed a wash thanks to the blood stains and grime from the wall. Yukio could just make out the raw, red skin beneath the manacles, yet for all of the damage Mephisto had, his gaze was piercing as he stared at Yukio, his lips twisted in a cruel smile.

Yukio swallowed hard. Shura had been forced to wait outside, but at the moment, he really wished she was here beside him.

_Not, _he reminded himself, _that it made a difference. _In his life, efficiency had always been a priority over comfort, and now he drowned those childish emotions in a wave of determination. He wouldn't be leaving this cell without the answers he wanted.

"Why do you call me here?" Yukio asked, his voice a deadly calm. His arms were crossed over his chest, his hands just brushing against the holsters of his guns. It wasn't that he needed the protection, but it was nice to know that, if Mephisto suddenly went mad and attacked, he could put a bullet in the demon's knee, to stop him, and then brain, to kill him if needed, before Mephisto could take another breath.

_So, _he asked himself again, _what are you afraid of? _

_ Oh yeah._

Not a dang thing.

Mephisto suddenly laugh; a hoarse, rattled sound that echoed on the stone walls. Yukio clenched his jaw to keep from cringing. "I _called _you," he said slowly, deliberately, "because I need your help."

Years of trained kept the surprise from ever reaching Yukio's eyes, though his fingers twitched on the hard leather on the hilt of the gun. "You need me help." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes," Mephisto hissed. Any trace of Mephisto the headmaster was gone; in his place was a demon, chained to a wall and backed into a corner, desperation laced in his voice. Yukio could hear an echo of Rin's voice; the sudden change inside of his brother when fighting, as if he was constantly trying to hold himself back, to stop the momentum of each swing of Kurikara, his demon blade.

And then there was that incident in the forest. The blue fires, scraping the clouds as it decimated the trees to ash. Rin, mad, jumping through the air. Desperate.

Yukio pushed those thoughts aside and hardened his heart. It wouldn't do good to think of his brother now. The sentiment made him weak, and he couldn't be -

"Your eyes changed," Mephisto pointed out. He was smirking again, arrogant in defiance against the chains that held him. "They were determined before, but now they just seem . . . soft."

Yukio's blood went cold - _he noticed. _But of course he did. Demons were disturbingly good at that, always finding your weakness and exploiting it. Yukio liked to think that he was strong, on the outside as well as internally, but at the end of the day he realized that all he had become was a kid over his head. Responsibilities? He hated them, hated them with everything he had.

Rin had always been a responsibility as well. One of the many and yet, no matter how many times Yukio had wanted to strangle him, losing his only living family member - Satan not included in that count - into Gehenna . . .

His fist was flying before his brain caught up. He blinked, the white in his vision disappearing, and stopped his hand moments before it properly introduced itself to Mephisto's cheek. The demon's violet eyes were wide with surprise, but then he smirked again.

"That's better," he whispered.

Yukio grit his teeth and took a step back, hands shaking. He messed up; he knew he did, knew that any second at least a dozen exorcists will be in this room in a moment. He turned to the door -

- and Mephisto added, "I think you need my help as well." Yukio glanced over his shoulder towards the ex-headmaster. "Why don't - " he added with a grin, " - we help each other?"

And the door slammed open.

"Yukio!" Shura called, and while at least thirteen other exorcists ran towards Mephisto, she was running towards him, her eyes wide with concern. "Are you all right? He was talking too low that we couldn't hear it over the cameras. What did he say to you?"

Yukio quickly glanced at the other exorcists; a few of them were staring at them, curious. "He said that he wanted meat buns in his next meal," he stated. They all frowned and, disappointed for such an answer, turned away. He could head Mephisto's laugh.

"Meat buns?" Shura frowned, unconvinced, but understanding lit in her eyes when Yukio gave her the look. "Ahhh . . . meat buns." She nodded knowingly.

Meat buns. A code word that Shura invented a long time ago when she wanted to talk to him in private, usually about upcoming missions. Usually it began with, "Hey. I brought you some meat buns," and when he followed her to wherever, the conversation ended with, "and a machine gun, if you have one, would be best."

If Rin ever knew about the code, he probably would have laughed. Yukio knew that he had once upon a time, mostly out of disbelief that such a stupid couple of words could actually be taken seriously. Yet, right now, Yukio couldn't imagine a time when he was more serious.

He stalked up the narrow, dimly lit stairs with Shura following. Within moments they were back at his dorm. Yukio pulled off his long coat and threw it on the floor; it landed with a hard _thunk_. It was reinforced with steel and weighed a bit. Shura glanced at it with distaste; she had never been one for extra protection, as clearly shown by what she wore.

"So, what did he say?" Shura demanded, sitting down on the rolling chair. Yukio sat on the bed, rubbing his temples; he had gotten a headache. "And don't say meat buns or I'll punch yah."

"He needed our help," Yukio stated, "and knew that we needed his. For the Gehenna Gate," he clarified.

Shura blinked at him. "He knew about that? But we just - "

"I don't know how he knew," Yukio snapped, then took a deep breath to control his temper. The lack of sleep was affecting him. "And now isn't the time to worry about it. How should we break him out?"

Shura shrugged. "Loop the video, use invisibility cloaks, and go from there?" Yukio only stared at her, and she visibly bristled. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing. That . . . That might work." The realization stunned him more than the actual idea. _This might actually work. _For the first time in a week he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, and what a beautiful, beautiful light that was.

"Great." Shura got to her feet with a groan. "Well, I'll talk to you tomorrow. My heads feels fuzzy."

"Did you drink some more?" Yukio demanded.

"Correction: I didn't." She smirked at him, then yawned. "Anyway, I'm gonna go to bed. You should too. You look awful." And before Yukio could reply, she had slammed the door shut.

Yukio blinked, then sighed and leaned back on the bed, his head on the pillow. Kuro was on Rin's bed fast asleep; it was eating less and didn't move around much now, though it did meow pitifully during the night. Kuro was Rin's familiar but hadn't disappeared; tomorrow, Yukio vowed to tell the cat what had happened.

_And also . . . thank Shura for helping . . ._

But he had already fallen asleep.

* * *

_Kuro is back and, though not quite ready to kick butt, is almost there. The plan to break out Mephisto is in the works and ladidadidada. I don't have much else to say about that except that it's Rin's chapter tomorrow. To all of you whining about when he'll meet Satan, hold yer horses and calm yourselves down. It'll happen and when it does, you may-or-may not thank me. On the other side, a lot of you guys want Rin to stay in Gehenna, you little demons. Make Rin, terrified out of his mind, be stuck in hell?_

_Why not?_

_:3_

_Don't even worry. As the summary states, he had a civil war to start. He's gonna be sitting there for a loooong time. Take a few guesses at why (and don't say 'for the sake of the plot'. No. I'm gonna tell you right now, that's not the reason, and when the reason is finally out there you all are going to freak *i hope* :D )_

_Comments:_

Crystalwolf96: _You have a twin! That's awesome. I'm gonna let you know right now that I don't, so I might get the twin-stuff wrong at times. Um . . . Think of it more like that it's like Yukio feels a hole because his twin brother is stuck in hell, not because they're like half of each other (because these twins are so different it's incredible) :) Does that help?_

Call Me Rinny Tin: _Well all right Rinny Tin. :D And thank you for the compliments and read the top. _

Dowgma: _My novel is fantasy-adventure and if I explain it, it'll sound stupid D: Ummm I'll write the teaser-thing once I'm done, and when I do I'll send it to you all right? :) Sorry. And yes; hell is a fantastic place to write about and don't even worry! I try to be really good at character personality (emphasis on 'try' haha) and so they'll all be explained. And I upload whenever. And Yukio and Shura's half will come to play later and it'll be awesome. And thank you very much xD_

Hartanna: _You recognized her?! :D but shhhh I don't think other people did. And everything in this fanfic will be explained so that it makes sense. :)_

Jenniyah: _Thank you. I try hahah :D_


	10. Chapter 7 - Gehenna

_Hey! Good morning guys! :) The sun is shining, the cats are being loud, and a little birdy told me that you wanted to see some Gehenna Kings. Did I hear that right? _

_:D_

_Okay. So I have not a CLUE of what the other 5 Gehenna kings are (It says online that Mephisto is ranked 2nd, so I'm assuming the Satan is number 1, and Amaimon is ranked 7 and is the Earth King.) so I'm just going to go for it and see where that takes me. I admit, I recycles the characters from two of my other books, so now they're OCs for this story. My gosh there's going to be a lot of them but no worries. :) I'm trying not to make any of them cliché because nothing irks me more than having one personality go along with ten names. _

_Anyway, here we go! Hopefully this will turn out okay! Comments at the end like always. Enjoy chapter 7!_

_***this chapter was a beast to write :'(_

_******* I HORRIBLY SCREWED UP. CHARACTER REVISION FOR RAZIELE AND XAVIER AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT. UM.  
_

* * *

Rin paced his room, wearing a track in the thin rug. After the demon-girl left a few hours earlier, he explored his room a bit to kill some time. He found some clothes in the dresser, roughly his size though a bit on the large size. He didn't even care, though he had noticed that all of the clothes were either black or white. Rin, in defiance of the orderliness of it all, chose a white shirt and black pants. The shirt was a bit too long, but he didn't care. After having to tuck in his uniform back at school, it was a nice change to just wear a shirt the _normal _way.

However, after he changed, there was nothing else to do. He even tried looking underneath the rug for a secret entrance or something, and was almost disappointed not to find one. When the door knocked again, it was a welcome relief.

"Yeah?" he said, assuming that it was the demon-girl again, but when he opened the door, someone he had never seen before stood on the other side. It was a boy, a few years older than him and taller as well, maybe around nineteen. The demon was, for a man, almost beautiful, especially wearing a white suit. Long, pointed ears stuck out from dark blue hair, almost black. His eyes were a rich pink. Pink had never looked so lethal before.

Rin's blood went cold and he jumped backward, wishing he had his sword, but this demon only laughed, showing off his elongated canines. "So _you're _the brat this place has been in uproar about," he said, inviting himself inside. "Rumor has it that you defeated Satan once. Banished him back into Gehenna." The demon laughed again. "The old man was grumpy for _weeks. _It was great."

"Who are you," Rin demanded. His mind reeled; he hadn't met many demons face to face, except in combat, but he had the sense that this one was different from the others. He also knew that this demon was stronger than any of the others he had ever faced.

But the demon only smiled, a friendly smile. "Raziele Agape," he said, holding his hand out. Rin shook it, mostly out of habit. "Just pretend that I'm you're older brother or something, and we can get along just fine."

Rin blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"You know." Raziele made a hand motion. "You're dad is Satan - "

"_Satan is _not _my dad!" _Rin shouted, cutting him off. He could feel the flames stir inside of him again, demanding release. "I only have one dad, and his name is - "

"Shiro Fujimoto," Raziele stated, to Rin's surprise. "Yes yes, I know. Everyone here does. It wasn't like Satan made possessing the Paladin any secret. Heck, we were all waiting for you to show up months ago."

It was strange. Rin hadn't thought about that before. The demon-girl had said that this place had always been his home; had this what she had been talking about.

Raziele's smile slipped. "Ah. Sorry. I upset you. I'm a pretty insensitive _keshen, _though I'm working on that part, though. How about," he added, "I show you around the castle? As an apology?"

Rin glanced at him in surprise. "That's allowed?"

"Sure it is!" Raziele grinned. "Plus, with me around, no one will try to kill you."

"People want to kill me?" He had figured as much, being in Gehenna and all, but the confirmation hit him like a bullet.

Raziele glanced at him. "Trust me, nothing personal. The demons here like the sight of blood, sick _kishen. _Ignore them." Suddenly he threw his arm around Rin's shoulder in a playful hug. "But with your big brother here, they won't touch you. They know that I'll feed them their own heart first."

Rin grimaced. "Have you . . . done that before?"

"Yep." Raziele said it as if he was stating that the clouds were white. "It was messy. Does that not happen in Assaih? I've never been there myself, honestly . . . and I'm upsetting you again. You gotta tell me when that happens, little dude. You look like you're gonna be sick."

"It's nothing." Rin glared at him, trying to control his stomach. Raziele's friendly personality made him forget how dangerous this place truly was. He wouldn't make that mistake again. "So, where are you taking me."

Raziele considerably brightened. "To one of the thirteen kitchens," he said, his pink eyes practically sparkling. "Rumor is that they're trying out an Assaih recipe that Amaimon discovered and sent back. It's supposed to be downright hellish."

_Hellish? _"It's bad?"

"No. It's amazing . . . _oh. _That's right. In Assaih, you guys say 'heavenly' when something's good, right?" Raziele asked as he opened up the door.

It shut behind them. "Some people do," Rin shrugged.

"Ah. Here, 'heaven' and everything associated is like taboo. I suggest that, unless you want your intestines to be pulled out of you while you're still breathing, you don't say . . ." His voice trailed off. "And you're upset again. Sorry."

Rin didn't even know what to say about that one; he hadn't even realized that he was staring at Raziele in horror. _They rip each other's intestines out? _And he thought that violence in Assaih was bad, but here . . .

"_I wear ladies underwear."_

Rin blinked, then turned to Raziele in complete shock. The demon just grinned at him. "You _what?"_

"Yep. The frilly kind, with the lace and stuff."

And he thought that intestines being ripped out of people were disgusting. "Seriously?"

Raziele burst out laughing. "_Cripp, _no. but you feel better, right?"

Rin scowled at the demon, then realized; he did. "Why would you help me?"

"First," Raziele smiled, "you're my little brother, and I read in a book from Assaih about family and that stuff, and so, as the older brother, I am obligated to guard your back or something stupid like that. Secondly, my mother was human, so I still feel human emotions like worry and guilt and that nonsense."

"Your mom was human?"

"Yep. My dad was a demon, possessed some teenage girl in Assaih, and then dragged the two of us to Gehenna when I was six years old. I can vaguely remember a lot of green, a lake . . ." His voice trailed off as he got swept away by memories, then he suddenly blinked and grinned down at Rin. "Anyway, when we were brought here, my mom couldn't handle the constant miasma here. At seventeen she was dead."

Rin blinked. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Not your fault," Raziele said with a wave of his hand.

They were walking down one of the many corridors now. A few of slaves, dressed in rags and chained together by their ankles, cleaned the walls and floor. A few other demons, dressed in much finer clothes, were sitting in the corners and giggling to themselves. When Raziele and Rin passed, then peered up with bloodshot black eyes and laughed. Rin shuddered and quickly turned away; they had three horns on their head and their faces were scaled with faint green.

Raziele suddenly put his hand on Rin's shoulder. "Addicts," he told the younger half-demon, indicating a white powder on the floor. "The stuff doesn't kill us, but it makes us weird as _rusharts_ in sunlight_._"

"What's a rush-heart?" Rin asked, confused.

"It's a type of small demon, found only in Gehenna, but known in Assaih as 'dragons', though considerably smaller. They live in caves but, when in contact with light, they do ridiculous things. I've seen one flying around in circles, bobbing its head as it fought with its foot. Ripped it o - " He suddenly stopped talking and shot Rin a proud smile. "See?" he told the half-demon. "I'm getting the hang of this now."

Rin didn't comment, only stared at the floor. He was trying to remember everything that Raziele was telling him; so far, he learned that if he walked around by himself he could very much be killed, and that Gehenna has caves. _But that just means that there is an outside, _he realized. _That, if I can leave this place, I can maybe be free. _

_ But then, _he thought, heart sinking, _where would I go?_

Suddenly there was a strangled cry. Rin snapped his head up. "What was that?" he asked Raziele.

Raziele was frowning; even his frown seemed oddly beautiful. "Probably a slave being punished," he decided, then shrugged. "Probably had it coming . . . and you," he added when he caught Rin's eye, "want to save it. Well, don't bother. It will only make you disappear sooner than later, and that's a nasty process."

Rin had no idea why he was arguing with someone he just met, let alone a demon that could easily kill him, but he did it anyway. "But I _know _that voice!" he told Raziele.

"You do?" Raziele asked, confused, just as they turned the corner.

Rin's blood went cold as he saw the demon-girl, the one with the short white hair and eye patch, being slammed against the wall. She bit her lip to keep from crying out but Rin could see the pain in her one good, violet eye as she went limp on the floor, chains rattling as they followed. Another demon - this one much larger - casually strode forward. He was also wearing a suit, this one an rich blue, but scarlet had splattered on the fabric. He bent down and grabbed the girl by her hair -

- and Rin was already flying forward, hand clenched into a fist. The large demon turned, its icy blue eyes widened with surprise, when the fist made contact with its face. A nose cracked, buckled, broke under the pressure.

Raziele, still standing to the side, groaned with exasperation.

"_Don't touch her!_" Rin screamed down at the demon.

It's icy blue eyes narrowed . . . and suddenly the demon was laughing. "Do you have any idea who I am?" it demanded. Rin growled, low in his throat. "My name is Xavier Hellios, a lesser General, and _you _will now be known as _dead - _"

"I think not." Raziele's hand was suddenly around Rin's chest and easily lifted the younger - and smaller - demon off of the the other, larger demon. "Xavier, go suck an icicle. You always get so moody when you're too warm."

"Raziele." Xavier bared his teeth. To Rin's horror, they were made completely out of ice. The demon's hair was a light blue, his skin pale. "So, after killing you're last playmate, you decided to find another?"

"Be a bit nicer to our little brother," Raziele smirked, his pink eyes dangerously bright, "or I will do the same to you the same thing I did to _her._"

Xavier snarled and crouched, preparing himself to launch forward. Raziele threw Rin towards the wall, next to the demon girl, and - laughing - outstretched his arms as if preparing for an embrace.

Rin wasn't sure what happened after that. Suddenly blue fire erupted seemingly out of nowhere. At first Rin wondered if it was _his _flame, but knew it wasn't impossible. Knew the moment the flames disappeared and someone was standing in the middle, a tall man with dark blue hair like his and eyes the color of the deepest ocean. His face was chiseled, with light stubble on his chin, but it only added to the dangerous, nearly suffocating, aura he emitted.

Rin pressed his back further against the wall when Satan glared, first at Raziele, then at Xavier. Both demons' faces were ashen, their eyes wide with either horror or terror. Raziele was the first to mask his surprise and bowed.

"Hello, father," he said curtly. Xavier begrudgingly did the same.

"I heard that there was a fight," Satan growled, "between the precious members of my family." Flames suddenly engulfed him and gathered to two horn-like shapes on his head and his arms. "And yet," he added, voice dark . . . but then he suddenly smiled, a smile that sent shivers down Rin's spine, "you didn't invite me."

Raziele flicked his eyes to Rin, silently telling him to leave, when Satan frowned and turned to the direction that he was looking was looking. Seeing Rin, the King of Gehenna smiled, a smile that he might have made moments before he fell from heaven.

"Hello there, Rin."

* * *

_ . . . . this was such a hard chapter to write T_T Not even kidding. It was crippin' difficult and really long._

_Anyway, tada! Two of the eight Demon Kings revealed! Only . . . three more to go! :) Remember: these aren't the official Kings (besides Mephisto, Amaimon, and Satan). These are just my characters. Please be nice and make them feel welcome. :)_

_And (hopefully) all of you noticed the different-language words in italics throughout the story. I made those words up as I went alone, through 'cripp' has always been my favorite and I actually do use it in real life. The thought was that, in Gehenna, they shoulder all have their own lingo, right? So there you go. It's all purely original._

_Comments: (sorry. A lot today but you are all so amazing I'm replying to more)_

Crystal di Angelo: _Yeah, Mephisto is sorry for what he did (but mostly because it didn't turn out the way he wanted). It's all in the prologue :)_

Thunber: _Awww thank you so much! :D Don't worry, Amaimon will appear eventually in Yukio's POV, but that's coming up. _

Dowgma: _Hahaha :D Thanks!_

Emily Blue Paw: _Oooh that's some dangerous humor. I love it. Please do :D_

Call Me Rinny Tinny: _Hahaha ok! I understand :) and no worries, I won't. Not until the last chapter. _

Hartanna: _Shhh meat buns are amazing_

Rainbowkittenism: _rofl rofl rofl rofl rofl_

_Anyway. You guys. I love your reviews 3 They pretty much all make me laugh and smile like a complete dork. That's what makes writing this story so enjoyable and that's also the reason why I'm doing daily-updates; for you guys, because I love you all so much 3 Thank you._


	11. Chapter 8 - Assaih

_Hey guys! I got a confession. _

_I TOTALLY SCREWED UP. _

_Apparently there are REAL Kings of Gehenna out there that I didn't know about. That means that Raziele and Xavier aren't kings; Raziele is now just a half-demon that is good at reading people and Xavier is now a General with an affinity for ice. THAT'S HOW IT IS NOW. I'm sorry. Since those two are already in the story, they're staying, but all of the other OC's I had planned are not going to be used; instead, I'm using the actual legit Kings that _Dowgma_ told me about/ sent me an entire PM explaining it (which I can't thank you enough for by the way!)_

_Anyway, I'm really busy today so this might be a really short chapter. Actually, I'm positive it will be. Time for Yukio's POV. You guys were whining for Amaimon; well, here yah go. Enjoy chapter 8._

_WARNING: This chapter contains some cussing. I'll try to keep it to a minimum._

* * *

Yukio gazed blearily into the crowd and tried to stifle his yawn. His hair was messy and disheveled, his glasses crooked on his face. His eyes felt like sandpaper. Shura had woken him from his two-hour nap by nearly breaking down his door; the Vatican had called a mandatory meeting will all exorcists ranked above Exwire. She was sitting beside him, bruises under her eyes and her hair still damp from a quick shower. She was even wearing his pajamas.

All of the exorcists were shuffled into the circular Vatican court; two people stood below, attempting to organize the debate on what to do with Mephisto and the now-useless Gehenna Gate below these very tiles.

But it quickly got out of hand.

"I say that Mephisto did us a favor!" shouted one of the exorcists. Yukio recognized his face; he was from the Upper First Division. "Just leave Satan's son in Gehenna and be done with it!" Several others murmured their agreements.

Beside him, Shura's eyes narrowed. "Assholes," she muttered.

Yukio couldn't help but agree; only years of brutal training kept his mouth shut. It was well known that Rin was Satan's son, ever since the incident in the forest, but people seemed to forget that Yukio was as well; he and Rin were twins, after all, flames or not.

Someone slammed their hands on their desk. "But that doesn't change the fact that Mephisto is a traitor!" she shouted. "He created a Gehenna Gate without our knowledge and killed our own for its sake!"

"They will be forever remembered as helping banish Satan's spawn back into Gehenna!" the man shot back.

Yukio's fists tightened in his lap. _Satan's spawn. _He once had the hope that maybe, just maybe, his brother would be acknowledged as an exorcist in his own right, even if it took a while. Now he saw just how flimsy that hope was; behind the pink lens was raw hatred and raw fear. The reason that this court was in uproar now is that, with Rin gone, they felt like they could just spew whatever crossed their mind about him. After all, he wasn't there to burn them to death if he didn't agree - not that he would, Yukio knew, but that's what the others believed.

The female exorcist shouted back at the man, shouting that those lives were wasted, not sacrificed, when the doors suddenly flew open. Angel strode inside, one arm in a sling and the other bandaged to the wrist. His white coat was on his shoulders. Everyone went silent as he confidently strode into the room; even Yukio leaned forward a bit.

"I'm surprised that he can even walk," Shura murmured.

"Kill Mephisto," Angel said, his jaw clenched, "or make him create another Gehenna Gate." He slammed his blade into the ground, but whether to make a point or to help him stand upright, Yukio didn't know. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Why?" someone shouted from the stands.

Angel turned his glare to them. They were slightly bloodshot, no doubt from the possession a week ago. "Satan will die for using me like a puppet," he growled.

"You're emotionally compromised," stated one of the Vatican. "Stand down, Paladin."

Angel gripped the hilt of his sword of bit tighter, straining the white leather of his gloves. "I'm going to kill Satan," he said again. He eyed the members of the court and, finally, rested his eyes on Yukio before drawing his sword out of the crowd and walking away. Two nurses were right there to assist him.

Shura smirked and glanced to Yukio, not noticing that he had turned a bit pale. "Hey," she said, giving him a slight nudge, "maybe Angel, with the right bribe, will help us break Mephisto out of jail."

"_Shhh," _he hissed, "don't say that so loud." But no one was listening; they were all turned towards each other in uproar. The Paladin demanding the death of Mephisto was no light matter; the Paladin adding that ex-headmaster could live if he created another Gehenna Gate was even worse.

. . . . . . . .

Amaimon watched the court from his perch on one of the arches, high in the ceiling. He loved watching humans argue; he thought it was funny how their faces got red and, if they got mad enough, talked so fast that sometimes they spit. Some were doing it now, spitting and arguing like a tomato being squished and its juiced flying everywhere.

Mephisto's magic had worn off the moment the exorcists put him in chains, so now Amaimon had free reign over his body with no restrictions. Right now he chose his more human form and occasionally swung his leg as it rested over the edge of the stone arch.

He glanced down at the raging humans; he didn't even know what they were talking about anymore. Ever since the Paladin left, their language all jumbled into one big soup. It was weird. Like humans. _Humans, _he decided, _are very, very weird. _

Suddenly one of the exorcists stood, followed by another girl in strange jammies. Amaimon watched; he recognized those two. One was Rin's brother, yes? And the other was . . .

The King of Earth frowned. He forgot her name, not that it mattered. He _did _remember how much he hated Rin, but his brother was a different story. The brother didn't look stupid.

Well, for a human anyway. Maybe _less _stupid.

Yeah. That was the word.

He watched as the two of them walked outside, then followed. It was easy; there was a window by the roof made of stained glass. Or, at least, had been. It was open now because he crushed it. His hand stung at first, but then had healed, so he stopped feeling bad about breaking it.

Honestly, he missed _his _brother. Well, half-brother, in a sort of strange way. Mephisto was the closest thing to family he ever had and now he was gone. Amaimon could never break him out of prison on his own; he tried already, and couldn't break the chains. They burned his skin and hurt a lot. He didn't know why.

But those two exorcists might. Maybe they could even get the chains off of Mephisto and save him. Amaimon didn't like asking for favors, but even he was willing to put aside his pride for the sake of the only person in the world he cared for.

He jumped out of the Vatican building and into open air, free falling to the ground below. The ground crushed under his feet as he landed, directly in front of Rin's brother exorcist and the forgot-her-name girl exorcist. The boy's eyes widened and he was already reaching for his gun, but Amaimon grabbed his wrist.

"I need your help."

* * *

_Another confession. Amaimon has a really difficult personality for me to grasp. I don't know why and will try to get better. I have the sense that he has a simple view of the world, like black and white, but he honestly cares for Mephisto. I also get the sense that he doesn't give a flying turd about rules or whatnot. _

_Anyway, I have to go. No comments today. Sorry! I'll comment more tomorrow. _

_Stay awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_


	12. Chapter 9 - Gehenna

_D': *sobs in a corner*_

_Yes yes yes I know that I screwed up with the demon Kings. No no no I'm not going back and turning Raziele and Xavier back into Kings. Why? Because that would make this story inaccurate and I can't stand it when my fanfics are inaccurate. So, this is what I'm going to do: I'm going to make it all better with twisted logic. [Recap: Raziele is just a half-breed. Xavier is a General with an infinity for ice.]_

_Why does Raziele and Xavier still call Satan father / why does he consider them his family? Because Satan pretty much rules over them. I can picture him as a twisted guy who likes making people submissive to him; this is just another way he does it._

_They aren't kings and I went back and fixed up the chapter as best as I could. I'm sad about it too. I mean, all you guys have to do is read. I actually have to do the work and write it, at let me tell you how much it sucks to watch your future plot and amazing plans fall away in three seconds flat. It's not a happy moment. Not at all. _

_BUT WHATEVER. I have a new plan in mind that I like better (because it's more accurate) and because the characters are made for me. :D Ah. hahahah. ha. I'm so lazy. _

_Anyway, here's chapter 9; Rin's POV. Comments at the end. :) Enjoy the chapter, beautiful people!_

_PSS: more cussing. I'm sorry! D: D: D:_

* * *

Rin's blood went cold when Satan addressed him directly. The King of Gehenna was looking down at him, his blue eyes - the same exact shade as Rin's - seemed to pierce him to his soul. Rin pushed himself harder against the wall, feeling completely exposed as Satan sneered at him, then walked over with his hands outstretched.

"What's with that face?" the demon asked. Rin could see two blue horns jutting out of Satan's black hair, his canine teeth pushing against the soft skin of his lower lip. His hands were smooth and pale, his suit the darkest of all nights. "Aren't you happy to see your daddy?"

Rin watched in horror as Satan's hand cupped his jaw, forcing him to look into his eyes. The icy blue irises were warped slightly, as if twisted, the pupils a bloody red.

Bloody red. Bloody red. Bloody.

Rin's eyes widened as the flashback engulfed him. _Blood. _

_ Blood pouring out of his father's nose, his eyes, as he threw his head back and laughed. Scarlet beads flew through the air and splattered on the floor as Shiro laughed, laughed and laughed and laughed, his spine bent at an awkward angle. Blue fire ignited on his back but didn't burn the fabric, and yet it still burned. _

_ Rin just watched, uncomprehending, his stomach twisting inside of him in abject horror and terror. Was this some sick joke? A nightmare? Yeah, Rin thought, his heart trying to beat a hole in his chest. This is just a nightmare. _

_ Cold sweat trickled down his back as he tried to back up, back up into the wall. If this is a nightmare, would he wake up? Could he wake up now? He shuffled back a little bit more, but his hands touched something wet and sticky. He froze, terrified, and every so slowly looked down. There was a puddle on the ground, like ink or something, but when he raised his hand to his face, he realized that his palm was stained red. _

_ This wasn't ink. _

_ It was blood. _

"Get away from me!" Rin screamed. The blue flames that had throbbed inside of him as it begged for release suddenly burst out of his skin. This all felt like déjà vu. The screaming, the terror, the panic that tasted bitter in his mouth. He was idly aware that his hands were shaking as he lunged forward, trying to push Satan back, away from him, but the demon only laughed.

"Your flames can't hurt me," he smirked, and then suddenly Rin was on the ground, dazed, gazing at the arced ceiling. Satan was standing above him, one of his shoes pressed down against Rin's chest. Rin gasped as the pressure intensified, as he felt his ribs fracture under the weight as his hands tried to push the leg off, to get it away . . .

. . . but it was useless. Rin gasped, each breath a painful victory has his vision blurred. His arms fell to the ground, limp, and something warm trickled out of his mouth. Satan was looking down at him, again, but instead of a smile his face was impassive. Emotionless. Like he didn't even care.

"Weak," he stated, and Rin bit back a cry as he felt his ribs shift, screaming in pain yet unable to heal. "You're useless to me like this."

"And he'll be useless dead," said a voice. Rin turned, his vision darkening. _Raziele?_

Satan laughed. "He won't die from this." There was a snap as a rib broke, followed by a breathless gasp.

"You could starve him instead and keep him in isolation," Raziele offered. "For his insubordinate. It's much more effective than pain in most cases."

Xavier scoffed. "Only because you've been there yourself, half breed."

Rin's ears rang; his mouth tasted like copper. His eyelashes fluttered as his eyes closed, the pain in his chest almost pushing him off the edge and into unconsciousness, when the pressure suddenly released. Almost immediately the healing took place; the ribs, dislocated and broken, snapped back in place and stitched themselves together. The bruising faded slightly and Rin opened his eyes again to see dark boots walking away. Someone was talking, but he couldn't hear very well.

And then someone was dragging him to his feet. Rin protested, wincing when his still-healing ribs shifted inside of his chest.

"Sorry sorry sorry," murmured Raziele, easing him back down. Rin gasped and more blood trickled from his mouth. Raziele made a face. "Well, I've been here in Gehenna for a while, but that was the most exciting thing I've seen yet. Can you walk?"

Rin managed to glare at him, feeling a bit more himself. At least he could breathe. "Starve . . . me in . . . isolation?"

"I'll take care of that, little bro. Don't worry."

"I'm not . . . your little . . . brother," Rin managed. Raziele helped him sit up and the younger demon spit blood out of his mouth. Maybe one of his lungs got punctured by the jagged edge of a rib, but he didn't know. Yukio was always the expert on that doctor stuff.

Raziele only laughed and ruffled his hair. "Sure I am," he grinned. "I'm your older brother who's always here to watch your back and to patch you up when you got your ass kicked."

"Stop," Rin protested, trying to push the older demon away, but Raziele would have none of that. Instead he grabbed Rin's face and forcibly turned it from side to side, checking for damage. Rin hissed at him. "I'm _fine._"

Raziele scowled, his pink eyes flashing, and Rin almost took a step back. He actually looked pretty scary. "You just attacked the King of Gehenna," the older demon stated. "You're not okay."

"It's happened once before," Rin grumbled, getting to his feet. Almost immediately his head swam and he stumbled, but Raziele was already there and caught him before he fell.

"By Lucifer, you're an idiot," Raziele informed it.

Rin turned away. "Shut up. It's already healed."

"And there's this thing called _blood loss, _which means that, until you're able to produce more of the red stuff, you're screwed. It takes a few minutes."

Rin glared at Raziele, then suddenly paused. "The demon girl," he whispered, his eyes darting to the spot where she had hit the wall. But the only thing there was a smear of blood on the wall and ground; nothing more. She had already left.

"Yep. She's gone," said Raziele. "And His Royal Pain in the Arse also left."

Rin glanced sideways at him. "Who?"

"Xavier Hellios," Raziele explained. "He's a General. He's also sick and twisted and has this thing against all half breeds, so watch out for him. He's infamous for ripped out this one guy's internal organs so fast he saw them spilling out onto the floor before he died. Another time - " He caught himself and had the decency to look bashful about it. "Sorry. I'll shut up."

"No, don't," Rin said, sitting down and leaning against the wall. He didn't feel as nauseous any more. "Who else do I need to look out for?"

Raziele blinked, surprised, then sat down next to him. "Well, there's this guy named Amon, a King by the way. He's a creepy bastard, always walking around and grinning, and he'll gut you for just looking at him wrong."

Rin swallowed. He knew that Raziele wasn't kidding. "Who else?"

"Astaroth," Raziele replied. Rin's eyes widened in recognition. "She's a - "

"She's a _girl?_" Rin asked in disbelief. He remembered when Astaroth possessed the leader of that gang a while back, the one that was cutting the feet off of the pigeons for laughs.

Raziele laughed at his reaction. "Yes, she is, believe it or not. She's also smokin' hot, by the way, and uses, you know," Raziele whispered a word into Rin's ear, making him blush a bright red, "to get what she wants," he finished. "It's how she manipulates people," he added with an evil grin and nonchalant shrug. "I got manipulated a few months ago into doing something for her, and I'll probably get manipulated the next time as well. She's also the King of Rot."

"Not the Queen?" Rin asked.

"King, Queen, whatever." Raziele yawned. "It's just a title. Anyway," he suddenly grinned, turning back to Rin, "you want to go to the kitchens now?" His pink eyes were practically sparkling.

Rin blinked at him. "You still want to go?"

"Of course," Raziele scoffed, getting to his feet. "There's no such thing as no time to eat."

"But," Rin frowned as he got to his feet as well, "I'm supposed to be on isolation," he added with a sharp glare. "And starved."

Raziele laughed and ruffled Rin's hair again, causing the younger demon to protest. "Would I let my little baby brother get tortured? _No, _I would not. Now relax and come on," pulling Rin along with a wide smile on his face. "Good food awaits."

* * *

_I love it when one character tries to cheer up another :)_

_So, I'm still organizing my thoughts and working on the plot, since it basically crumbled away when the historically-accurate Kings replaced my own. That said, I'm getting a grasp at what's going to happen. :) So it sucks a little less. _

_ Anyway, comments! :D_

SkyHana: _Thank you! :D But I wouldn't say mine is the best . . . maybe, like, decent hahah :) As for your questions, you're just going to have to wait and find out! _

anatric: _I'm not happy about the whole change either, but I did it because I care about this story and the accuracy of the plot. If I didn't care, I would have ignored the entire thing and continued on. :)_

Emily Blue Paw: _Hahah thanks! :D And sadly, Xavier isn't the Ice Demon King anymore, but his affinity is ice. And actually, your ice puns are really cool, so chill out and keep them up :P :P :P (and yes, I saw that too. -_- It's like, seriously? Can they not read the rant?)_

Hartanna: _Raziele is crippin' adorable. I'm glad you agree xD_

Nigh's-whisper18: _xoxoxoxo (I can't do 3 because it turns them into 3's) thank you for appreciating that. Not many people understand how tough it is to update daily. Dude. You're awesome. Don't ever change. :D_


	13. Chapter 10 - Mirror Chapter

_I'm so tired. Went out to eat lunch with my little brother and grandparents, and then out to eat with my family, grandparents included, for dinner. (Since my family just got back from the trip, it's been soooo busy at my house) It's like, I don't even want to move anymore. I just want to lay down and sleep for twenty four hours straight. I could probably do it, you know. Or at least I could try. _

_Anyway, this is a SPECIAL CHAPTER. Why? Because it's chapter 10! (and yes, I made this up just now). That means this chapter is a bit longer __**AND **__has Yukio and Rin's POV. :D Isn't that awesome? I promise it's not because, er, I ran out of things to say about Yukio and needed to squeeze in another scene of Rin before the next chapter. That's not, uh, that's not it at all. _

_Ha. Hahahah. Ha. _

_. . . let's just get one with it. Enjoy chapter 10 :)_

* * *

**_Yukio POV_**

Yukio stared at the demon, astonished. He recognized Amaimon from the forest, when he was trying to kill his brother, but then again Rin was trying to kill him as well. That was a rough night, one that will probably be burned into his memory forever. After that, the demon just seemed to . . . vanish. No one knew where he went, and whenever he asked Mephisto about it, the ex-headmaster would only smirk and say not to worry about it.

Yukio worried.

Half of him worried if someone saw this, that they would get the wrong idea from Amaimon suddenly grabbing his arm, or what was Shura thinking. The other half was morbidly curious; why would a demon, and a King of that, ask for his help?

Thankfully, Shura took over. There was a flash of purple light as she pulled his sword out from the tattoo between her, yes, breasts. Amaimon's eyes darted to the blade, but before he could move Shura had him pinned onto the ground.

The demon didn't even fight back.

"What do you want?" Shura growled. Sunlight gleamed off the edge of the blade as it pressed against Amaimon's neck, kissing the skin.

"Your help," he explained. His voice was devoid of emotion.

Yukio frowned. "What kind of help?" he asked. Shura glanced at him, her eyes wide with disbelief, but Yukio silenced her with a wave of his hand. He was feeling particularly murderous at the moment, though no one would be able to tell past his calm facade.

Amaimon flicked his eyes to him. For a moment, they betrayed the demon's emotions; worry, nervousness, and a hint of fear, before they blanked. "Mephisto," he said, turning back to Shura, who was still on top of him. "They locked him up."

Annoyance flashed in Shura's eyes and she put a bit more pressure on the sword; scarlet beaded on the edge. "We know," she practically snarled. "Why do you care?"

At that, Amaimon blinked in surprise. Why did he care? Why _did _he care about Mephisto, anyway? "I don't know," he said. "I just do. I want to get him out."

Yukio frowned. So did they . . . but could they trust a demon? Familiars were one story. Izumo's familiars were okay, and even he had to admit that Shiemi's familiar was kind of cute. Kuro was Rin's familiar, and the poor thing slept all the time now on his bed, curled up in Rin's coat.

Yukio bit his lip; so much was at stake, so much riding on his shoulders. Rin's life. The lives of all involved. Finally, his promise to his father, the promise where he swore he would take care of his clueless older twin.

Those were worth fighting for.

"Shura," he muttered, eyes blazing with determination, "let him go."

Shura spun, mouth open in shock. "_Huh?!_"

"Let him go," he repeated. "We can trust him."

"_We can . . ._ Have you gone mad?" she sputtered. More blood beaded on the blade and ran down Amaimon's neck, but the demon didn't react. Shura didn't seem to notice. "This is a _demon. _Worse, he's a demon _king. _He could be in league with Satan, or - "

"_That doesn't matter!_" Yukio shouted, his temper flaring, but he quickly swallowed his anger. He was tired; that was it. He was tired so he had less control. He took a deep breath. "That doesn't matter," he said again, a bit calmer. "If the de - if Amaimon can help us get Mephisto out of jail, then we're one step closer. If there's a problem, we can deal with it them." His hands automatically brushed the hilt of his gun, the smooth leather comforting against the soft pads of his fingers.

Shura's eyes narrowed dangerously, and she turned back to Amaimon with a look of murder. Then finally, she sighed and stood up. Amaimon blinked in surprise. "I need a drink," she hissed under her breath, then put her sword away and sauntered off.

**_Rin POV_**

_"This _is the _kitchen?!" _Rin exclaimed, his tail twitching in excitement beneath his shirt. It was just about the most amazing thing he had ever seen, not to mention the biggest kitchen _ever. _Pots and pans lined the wall, gleaming in the artificial yellow light, while the stainless steel countertops practically shined. There could easily be nine sinks, thirteen refrigerators, and even more dish washers. Different dried herbs hung from the wall, spicing the air with a homely scent, as a warm fire blazed in an open oven. Different potted fruit trees were growing in the corner; apples, oranges, lemons, avocados. Rin hadn't given it much thought, but he didn't think that stuff could actually grow here.

Even better: No one was here.

Raziele laughed. "It's awesome, right?" he said, pulling off a shiny pan off of the wall. He gave it a few swings, as if it was a weapon. "Be careful of Agni; she's in charge of this kitchen."

Rin shot him a sideways glance as he simultaneously opened the refrigerator. "Why?" he asked, then noticed a slice of cake tucked in the corner of the fridge. He practically drooled as he pulled it out.

He heard Raziele laugh at his expression. "Well, that's because - "

_Thwack. _

A sudden sharp noise startled Rin and immediately put him in fighting mode, especially after the encounter with Satan and Xavier. Holding the slice of cake protectively against his body he spun, closing the refrigerator door with his foot as he ducked behind the counter. Raziele was on the floor, wincing, two pans lying down next to him.

That struck Rin as odd; hadn't he been playing with only one before?

"_Raziele!_" screeched a high pitched voice. Shivers ran up and down Rin's spine as he slowly shuffled to Raziele. He was propped up on his elbows, holding the pan with one hand. The side of his head was bruised and bleeding a little, but he hardly noticed. Instead he smiled wide.

"Why, it's nice to see you to, Agni. You look gorgeous today, as always."

"Oh, stop that, you flirt," the high-pitched noise said again. "I'm not going to give you another apple." Rin dared to poke his head from behind the counter; a rather large - no, _humongous _woman was standing in one of the aisles, her meaty arms crossed over her oversized . . . chest. Rin tried not to flush. She was wearing a bright red chef's uniform with a flower-printed apron, which folded about a hundred times as she reached for the pain on the floor. Rin ducked behind the counter, heart hammering in his chest.

Raziele made his best pouting face. It was impressive. "Agni, you hit me in the head with a pan."

"Accident," the woman, Agni, shrugged. "Your head happened to be in my trajectory."

But Raziele didn't give up; instead he smiled and, after getting to his feet, took her hand gently in his and kissed it. "Did I mention you look gorgeous today?" he asked, his pink eyes dancing. "Absolutely stunning. Red is certainly your color."

Agni blushed almost as bright as her red hair. "Stop it," she said, turning away. "Fine, take an app - " Suddenly her red eyes flared as she spotted Rin on the floor, piece of cake in hand. "Who are you?" she asked darkly.

Rin's mouth went dry as his brain fumbled for words. It was too late, however; if you asked him his name, he probably wouldn't remember.

"That's my little brother," Raziele stated. "He's new here, so be nice."

"He's new?" One of Agni's delicate, overly arched eyebrow raised even higher. Suddenly she made an exasperated sound. "Of course he is, and the poor thing is covered in blood. And skinny. Too skinny."

And then Rin found his voice. "I'm not skinny," he said indignantly, getting to his feet. He tried to hide the piece of cake behind him. "I'm _fit."_

Agni's frown deepened and, behind her, Raziele furiously shook his head no. "You. Are. Too. Damn. Skinny," she stated. "Can you cook?"

"I'm a _great _cook."

At that, Agni sighed. "Never trust a skinny cook," she said, then turned away towards one of the refrigerators. "You sit on the counter. _Yes, _that one, you twig. Sit there. Eat the slice of cake. Raziele, take your apple."

"Yes ma'am," he said cheerfully. He practically danced across the kitchen for his apple, but not before throwing Rin a quick thumbs up. Rin grinned at him between mouthfuls of cake, feeling a bit more at ease. _But not cake, _he realized, _but pie._

He never had lemon meringue pie before. The gooey yellow pie was covered in white, slightly glazed fluffy cream-stuff. The fluffy stuff was sweet and melted on his tongue, and the yellow goopy stuff was tart at first, but had a sweet aftertaste. He kinda sorta fell in love with it.

"How is it?" Raziele asked, a green apple in hand as he sat on the counter beside Rin. Agni was cooking on the stove; the pan she was using hissed and sizzled when she added green pepper to her concoction.

"Ith's rea'y 'ood," he mumbled back, his mouth full. It was the last bite; he swallowed and felt a bit sad that it was gone. It was the best thing he had in a while.

Raziele laughed at Rin's dejected expression. "Don't worry," he grinned, patting Rin's head, much to his annoyance. "We can come back anytime; maybe, one of these days, you can cook something."

"Really?" Rin asked, eyes sparkling, but then he caught sight of Raziele's wound and frowned. "Does that hurt?" he asked. "Your head."

Raziele blinked, like he was surprised, then shook his head. "Nah," he replied, "I've had worse. Besides, it was my fault; I forgot to duck," he added devilishly.

Rin only scowled. _Did that happen often? _he wondered. "Has anyone died here?" he asked, half joking, half morbidly curious.

"Yep," Raziele replied, kicking out his legs. "See that fire over there? The one in the hearth?" Rin nodded. "Agni once caught someone stealing her bread, so she told him that he should cook like one and stuffed him inside. She also . . ." He blinked, catching himself, and scowled at Rin. "Stop upsetting yourself and relax," he said, giving his more-or-less adopted little brother a shake. "I won't let anyone hurt you."

Rin smiled at him, but it felt a bit fake now. He wanted to believe in Raziele. He really did, but that was a big promise to make. "Thanks for, you know, defending me back there," he quickly said before he lost the courage. "You know. Against Satan."

Raziele's eyes widened slightly, and the he smiled; a sad, sad smile that Rin didn't understand. And then it was gone. "Of course," he grinned, ruffling Rin's dark hair, and teased, "I would look bad you died while I was the escort."

* * *

_*phew* the chapter is done. So, how did you guys like the 'special chapter'? :D Should I try this every tenth chapter? Please let me know!_

_And you guys, it makes me really happy when you say that you like one of my OC's (Popularity-Contest wise, Raziele is winning. Completely winning. Like, no contest type of winning.) :D_

_Comments:_

Thunber: _No, you haven't, but I love you too! I'm so happy that you like it! _

Crystal di Angelo: _Aw, that sucks. I'm sorry. But your grammar has certainly improved for some reason! :) (and I wanted an older brother too hahah but being an older sister is perfectly fine with me. Protecting the little sib? Pssh. Got that covered.)_

gabstergirl: _You have no idea hahah Thank you! _

**_Next chapter has a twist; it's Raziele and Rin's POV. Satan is going to make good of his threat of isolation._**


	14. Chapter 11 - Gehenna

_Hey guys! Sorry I didn't upload yesterday. I'm also going to apologize in advance because I will be backpacking from the 16th to the whatever, so there will be a gap in uploads. I'll apologize again - because of college stuff, I have less time to write._

_Anyway, this chapter is where the shiz starts to hit the fan. Shorter chapter but loaded with content Enjoy :)_

* * *

_ This is great. _

Rin stuffed more of the amazing food in his mouth and almost purred in contentment which, for a human-demon hybrid, was a bit strange. He licked the sweet sticky stuff from his fingers and made sure not to accidently nip the skin with his fangs.

_This is the best._

Agni the demon-cook had given him a ton of food, saying stuff like 'you're too skinny' and 'they haven't fed you well enough'. As a demon, he naturally burned more energy just by being alive and keeping his powers in check. As a teenage boy, he was pretty much hungry all the time; back at the dorms, he never stopped eating because he was full. He just got tired of eating.

His tail twitched from pure joy as he stuffed himself silly.

For some reason, Raziele had showed him back to his room and helped with the many plates of food, and then said that he had to go somewhere and left. Rin wasn't sure why, but he wasn't too worried; after all, Raziele wasn't worried. He always seemed to carefree and relaxed, like there was nothing wrong.

In fact, Rin found himself enjoying Gehenna a little bit more; Agni was really nice, though she could be lethal with a pan, and Raziele was a cool guy. Xavier was a different story though, and Satan was . . . unmentionable.

Suddenly there was a faint knock on the door. Rin's eyes widened and, his thoughts still on Satan, he practically flung all of the food underneath the bed. Some of it fell, especially the lettuce (which was green and crisp, to Rin's amazement).

The door creaked open and the demon-girl poked her head in, her violet eye devoid of all emotion. Rin watched her as she slowly closed the door, her back to him, but when she turned around it was as if the glass wall between them had cracked.

"I just came to say thank you," she said curtly. Her lower lip trembled slightly.

Rin frowned. "For what?" he asked, and then he remembered. How could he have forgotten? "Of course," he said quickly, getting to his feet. The floor was cold beneath his bare feet. "I mean, are you all right? Are you okay?" He reached forward without thinking, but she flinched away. His hand paused millimeters away from her face.

"Thank you," she said again, her voice curt. Before Rin could say anymore, the door slammed behind her.

...

"Well, _this _is rare. Since when did you care about anyone?"

Raziele raised his gaze. Blood trickled down the corner of his mouth and dribbled off of his chin. His hands were chains above him at the wrists; the inside of the cold metal was lined with needle-sharp spines that cut into his skin to the bone. He also wore a collar around his neck, tinier thorns lined the inside. With every movement it nipped at his skin. "Shut up, Beelzebub," Raziele sneered, addressing the King of Insects. "I'm in solitary confinement, remember?"

Beelzebub's scarlet red eyes narrowed to slits. Horns grew out of his brown hair, long and thin, paper-thin wings jutted grotesquely out of his back. He wore gloves to hide the disease-ridden hands and yellow nail follicles. "Yeah, I heard. I _also _heard that you waltzed up to Satan, told him to shove his tea in an uncomfortable place in his anatomy when he told you to leave, and told him that you were taking his son's punishment and wouldn't take no for an answer."

Raziele frowned and turned his gaze away. Truthfully? He just wanted to be left alone in his pain, but Beelzebub was also a persistent kind of guy. He glanced at the King of Insect's again; he was smoking a pipe. Rings of smoke drifted to the damp ceiling as condensation ran down the walls and pooled at Raziele's bare feet.

"You want the truth?" he asked.

Beelzebub grinned. "Of course."

"The truth is that you're an idiot."

Before he could say another word, Beelzebub's gloved hand was around his neck, pressing the thorns of the collar deeper into Raziele's bare skin. However, he was used to the pain. Being a hybrid of human and demon wasn't very popular in Gehenna. It _was _a hell, after all, but not for everybody. Those at the top seemed to do better than everyone else . . . Rin included.

"Don't tempt me," Beelzebub hissed into his ear. "If it was up to me, you would be dead long ago."

"Yeah, it's unfortunate that my mother loved me," Raziele growled in return, though pain made his throat tight. "Maybe she should have just let you kill me instead of taking it out on her."

"She was a human," Beelzebub argued.

Raziele's eyes flashed. "_She was my mom," _he snarled, "_and you infected her with the black plague_."

Beelzebub threw his head back and laughed; it echoed on the circular stone walls. "What?" he asked. "You're still upset about that?"

"Satan will hear about this visit of yours," Raziele threatened, fury boiling inside of him.

Beelzebub only laughed harder. "And tell him I say _hi_." With that he turned and, with a wave, left the hybrid demon alone in the dark.

* * *

_Okay guys. Dark chapter, I know. And I have a serious question for you guys, so if you read and like this fanfic, please reply. One word answers are totally fine; if you want to explain, even better. :)_

_So. Should I change this story to rated M? This story will eventually lead to a civil war and the stuff coming up isn't pretty either. The rating you_ _choose will decide how heavy this fanfic will be (like, atmosphere and content-wise. Sorry - it was originally just T and then I read more about the various Kings of hell and what they do, and suddenly it didn't seem like a T anymore.)_

_Anyway, have an amazing day you guys! Just a shout out to everyone reading this story - you guys are totally awesome. :D Thanks for making this story worth writing and for being awesome in general!_

_Much love,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_


	15. Chapter 12 - Assaih

_YOU GUYS. I'M SO, SO SORRY FOR LATENESS. Things have been tough. I'm moving out of the house I was born and raised in next week, and I'm also desperately trying to finish up the 500 page novel that I've been working on, not to mention that my friend and I have this whole Pokémon series going called Broken Compass, and I'm the artist. _

_Yeah, I'm a crappy artist. Just look at the cover for this story and you'll see just how bad. _

_Anyway, I remember the whole rating-thing for this story, and I'm thinking about changing it to M, but mostly to be safe about it. Besides, as things get deeper into the plot, things are going to get rough. And, as lovely _Dowgma_ pointed out, these folks are DEMONS. They are not NICE. _

_So, recap. This story is rated M just to be on the safe side, but I'll put a warning on the, er, darker chapters. __**I'LL MAKE THE WARNING REALLY BOLD, LIKE THIS, SO THAT YOU CAN'T MISS IT.**_

_Well, on that note, here yah go! Yukio POV coming right up, plus an extra page of awesomeness._

* * *

_Yukio POV_

* * *

Shura knelt down next to Yukio, her face flushed and her breath smelling of booze. "This is stupid," she hissed into his ear.

He snapped the ammo into the gun with practiced ease. "You mentioned that." They were in his dorm room now, preparing for the night.

"Nooo_ooooo_," Shura frowned, forcing Yukio to look at her. "This is _really _stupid." She flicked her violet eyes to Amaimon, who was crouched in the corner of the dorm room picking at his nail. "He's a _demon_," she whispered loudly.

Yukio flinched and turned back to Amaimon, but the demon didn't notice. "Well," he mumbled, "we don't have much of a choice."

And they didn't. They were going to break about a dozen Vatican rules while busting Mephisto, the ex-headmaster of the most acclaimed exorcist school and also the most lethal traitor the exorcist world had ever known, and do it with practically no help.

"This _suuuuucks,_" Shura moaned, sitting down.

Yukio cast her a dry glance; _how much did she drink? _before turning back to his gun. It was polished to a dark shine. "I know," he stated. Their chances were awful; Amaimon was a demon, Yukio himself was a half-demon half-human hybrid, though he never acquired his demonic side thanks to Rin, and Shura was currently an alcoholic.

Their chances were, Yukio had to admit, pretty bad.

_But what else can I do? _He glanced to Shura and Amaimon again; Shura was absolutely drunk, and Amaimon didn't seem to care. In fact, he took over Rin's bed and was staring at Shura and Yukio with a bland expression.

Yukio shoved his gun in its holster and stifled a sigh.

This was a less-than ideal team for such a fragile mission. They would be lucky if they didn't implode.

_Heck, we'll be lucky if we survive this._

He rubbed the bridge of his nose; he was beginning to feel a headache form between his eyes. Over the past couple of hours he asked himself what on earth he was doing . . . and then he reminded himself that he was doing this for his brother.

Oh, the lengths he would go for family. It had always been like this, always Yukio watching his brother's back.

But lately, he was thinking that maybe that it had been the other way around. Yukio had thought that Rin was annoying, but now he missed his twin's antics more than ever. He _missed _the sarcastic comments, the forgetfulness, the happy-go-lucky attitude that had reassured him without him noticing.

He missed his brother.

And he would do whatever it took to get him back.

"We'll begin at nightfall," Yukio said, standing to his full height. "Until then, rest and eat something. It's going to be a long night."

* * *

_Shiemi POV_

* * *

Shiemi watched the world outside her window and sighed. The clouds were beautiful today; light and fluffy, and made interesting shapes in the sapphire blue sky. A flock of birds passed by her bedroom window, calling to each other in hello. The sunlight was warm, the town beneath busy and full of life. It was a gorgeous day.

And she wasn't seeing it at all.

Her mind was a thousand miles way, in a different world in fact, wandering to where Rin was. She wondered if he was all right, and every time she asked herself that question she tried not to laugh.

He was in Gehenna. In hell.

How could he be?

She had sworn to herself to stand strong for Yukio and for Rin too. Whenever there was a fight, she was always staring at their backs, always the defenseless girl that needed protecting. She made a vow that she would never watch from the sidelines again, not after the Impure King, and definitely not after the Kraken. She vowed to always be their strength. Her breath fogging the window as she sighed.

And here she was again, watching from the sidelines, watching everyone else do their best. And what does she get to do? Watch plants grow all day. Once that hobby had been a time to clear her head, her garden of Eden a place where everything bad seemed miles away.

And now her garden was a cage. The order from the Vatican was absolute; anyone who was an Exwire or below was the evacuate the school and return to their homes. To normal life.

But for Shiemi, who's house _was _on the school itself, there was no normal life to return to. Just days staring out the window, wondering how Yukio was doing and fiercely hoping that Rin was all right.

Her hands balled up on the soft pink fabric of her kimono.

_What would Rin do right now? _she asked herself. _What would Yukio do?_

The answer came immediately; if Yukio disappeared, Rin would break every school rule at the risk of his own life to save his younger twin brother. Yukio, however, would calmly step forward and logically work out a solution.

So why not do both?

For the first time in a week, a small smile curled on her full lips. Her mom was out now, bringing supplies over to the wounded. Schedules had been thrown into chaos, and Yukio would probably use that chaos to sneak past everyone undetected. Rin would probably add to the chaos.

Shiemi decided to take Yukio's approach on this one; logical would be best for now. The desperate acts could wait until later. Stumbling to her feet, she began to sprint for the door.

She would stand on the sidelines no longer.

* * *

_Whoooo Shiemi is gonna kick butt! I always loved Shiemi's character; she's so fierce in her own adorable way, always trying to prevail over her self-doubts and inner fears, and always trying to help. Well, it's her time to shine coming up!_

_And don't worry. The other Exwires will show up too eventually. :) Also, since there are so many characters beginning to play in, the chapters will probably not be pure Yukio or pure Rin POV. It will probably be a mixture, but the POVs will stay in the same world though._

_So. You guys ready for poop to hit the fan? _

_Stay awesome,_

_Rand0mSmil3z_

_PS: By the way you guys, **this story now has 100 reviews! **You guys are totally awesome; I love you all! 3 3 3 thanks for reading this story and I hope that I make you proud in the later chapters!_


	16. Chapter 13 - Gehenna

_Hey dudes. I'm gonna make this brief and let you know that I am going through a complete lack-of-motivation writer's block. Literally, my novel is going slower than a herd of turtles stampeding through peanut butter, and all I want to do is write a different story but I CAN'T because I haven't finished THAT ONE yet. _

_Oh. And I'm leaving for college on Friday. So excited! My roommates seem like really nice people too, which makes it that much better. _

_All in all, I'm incredibly busy and don't have very much time for just about anything. You can kiss daily updates goodbye. The story has also been officially updated as an __**M**__ rated story, so please keep that in mind as you continue reading this story._

_I will also be incorporating Greek mythology a little bit, but mostly for character and location references. The rest will be filled with my imagination. If you have a problem with that, well . . . to put it simply, I don't care. But I still love you 3_

_(and by the way? WE JUST PASSED 100 REVIEWS. and every single one of them is a positive review, except for the couple about me calling Rin Zane by accident. Seriously, where are you seeing this? I just checked the chapters to correct them and they are MIA. Someone PM me the locations or something.)_

_This chapter will mostly delve into what the characters are thinking at this point. I want it to be as realistic as possible; that means that yes, people's mentalities are being screwed up and so on and so forth. It will also help you understand what the characters are going through a little bit better :) Sorry for my writer's-block writing by the way. I'll apologize in advance._

* * *

...

**_Raziele's POV_**

**_..._**

****Raziele _hated. _

The chains slipped off of his wrists and fell heavily to the cell floor. Blood had splattered on the cold stone and dried, creating a darker montage against the hard rock. He rubbed his wrists, getting the blood flowing again even as scarlet seeped from the many puncture wounds.

The layer of needles lining the inside of the manacles had not been kind to his skin.

The metal collar had been next. It unlocked, and without a sound even as the thin needles jerked out of his throat, the hinges finally snapped and it fell to the floor. Raziele knew better than to take a deep breath; he had been here more times than he cared to admit, and he learned all of the subtle tricks of the dangerous trade.

Don't breathe deeply if you don't want to choke on blood.

Don't stand to quickly or the sudden change in blood pressure would make you faint.

Don't make any sudden movements or the fragile newly-healed bones will break.

And, the most important - do not look at the jail warren in the eye if you prefer to keep your limbs still attached.

Hades twirled the iron key ring in his finger. His skin was coal-black, his eyes redder than raw rubies. A smirk twisted his face; his teeth were black, jagged and rough, and continuously cut through his bottom lip to create beads of red that trickled down his chin. Raziele _hated; _hated this man, hated everything he stood for.

There had been a rumor in Gehenna that, after Hades had been banished from Assaih, he and Satan had competed for the entire underworld. However, Satan won and as punishment, made the lesser god serve him in the prisons; the prisons were also where, ironically, Satan had cursed Hades to stay for the rest of eternity. But it was no curse; Hades enjoyed the suffering, enjoyed beating the captives here half out of their minds. He treated his slaves no better, and they in turn took their pent-up frustration and anger out of the poor souls trapped here for eternity.

Hades stood for hopelessness. Raziele had read about the thing called 'hope' in a book once, and also about this vague term called 'belief'. As a half-human, Raziele understood those two words in their entirety, and had taken up on the habit of believing.

For example, he believed that humans were stupid. He believed that Agni was nice. He believed that hope was real and that snow was white, that apples were the best snack in the entire world and he believed that, one day, he would breathe the fresh air of Assaih.

He hoped that his mother would be proud of him now, he believed that he was trying the best he could to make her that way. He believed that the hierarchy of Gehenna was absolute. He believed that Rin was clueless and naive, but an honest guy that would never stab him in the back.

Raziele also believed that he hated Hades, hated the god - demon with everything he had.

He _hated. _

Hades said not a word as he roughly pushed Raziele out of the cell. His bare feet, the healing bruises still tender, worsened when he walked upon the rough stone floor. They cut and bled, leaving red footprints where he walked but they were hardly visible above the layer of scarlet.

This was a well-used path.

A sudden torch flared to life. Raziele winced at the sudden brightness, and though his rosy eyes adjusted mere moments later, they still smarted. How long had he been inside of that cell? Hours? Days?

He had no way of knowing.

"So I heard you took the beating for someone else."

Hades' low, seductive tone chilled Raziele like the cold never could. "What's it to you?" he sneered. A hand went out; Raziele, in his weakened state, didn't have time to dodge before a fist connected with the side of his head. He fell heavily to his hands and knees; there was a faint snap as the fragile bones in his wrist broke, but he refused to make a sound.

He deserved that one. It was his fourth rule of his to-do list in Gehenna's prison; or, in this case, what _not _to do.

"Listen hard, hybrid." A strong hand pulled him up by his hair. "Satan may rule of _there, _but in this place, he has no power. I am the king," Hades hissed, then jerked Raziele's head so that he could read a plaque above the arched stone door.

_Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate_

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

"Do you see that, Raziele Agape?" Hades demanded, his voice low. Raziele could feel his moist breath against his ear. "It means that there is nothing left to live for. No one to die for. Remember that the next time you decide to sacrifice yourself for someone else. Remember that." His voice was low, low enough that Raziele could hardly hear, and then Hades roughly threw him on the floor.

Raziele used the wall to help him get back to his feet, his eyes carefully lowered to the ground. "I remember."

But that was a lie.

He still hoped.

...

**_Rin POV_**

**_..._**

****Rin lay on his back on top of the bed, his gaze staring at the ceiling. He was bored, incredibly bored, and Raziele hadn't visited him even though an entire day went by. Or at least, Rin thought it had been a day. He didn't know for sure; there was no clock in his room and no windows either.

It was times like these that Rin started to think, to remember the days back in Assaih. Sometimes when he dozed, he had a flashback; Shuro, pushing him and Yukio on the swings. Snow was falling, making his nose red and fingers cold, but all he could do was laugh and laugh and laugh, shouting higher, higher, higher . . . !

Or his first day at the Academy, or the moment when he learned that Yukio was actually an exorcist and, above all, his new teacher. Rin smiled at the memory; he had been so shocked and, still numb from the death of his father, didn't think and started shouting at Yukio in the middle of one of his classes.

Rin moved his arms above his head.

He hadn't meant to yell; it just happened. So much had changed. The night before he had discovered that his entire life had been a lie; then, the next morning, he had learned that his belief of Yukio's had been a lie as well. It shook him, shook him down to his very core, and he couldn't help but wonder what else of his life was a lie? Was he really who he thought he was? Who he thought that he could be?

But instead of dealing with his pent-up emotions, Rin had just began to yell. He smiled to himself; he had created a mess after that as well. Yukio pointed a gun at him too, but that didn't even seem like a big deal at the time.

And now here he was, in Gehenna. Mephisto must have been lying to him his entire stay at the Academy as well. Now that he thought about it, the headmaster must have been lying to Shuro as well when he promised to take care of Rin and Yukio if something were to ever happen to the Paladin.

Rin slowly sat up, groaning when his sore muscles protested. All of the lies and everything that had happened was beginning to catch up with him. Raziele had always made him feel better about the world, however. His care-free attitude and smile were contagious.

Rin swung his legs of the side of the bed and stood, then made his way to the door. He remembered Raziele telling him that it wasn't safe to walk outside alone, but he didn't care. All of his thoughts were getting to him, wearing him down, and he just wanted to stop thinking. To make it all go away, to do _something _other than stare at the ceiling and wonder about a future that you may or may not have tomorrow and a past that had been false from the moment he had been born.

He just wanted to walk.

And so he did. Rin opened the door and, being careful to shut it gently behind him, began to walk down the winding halls. Every sense was on full alert, every nerve ending standing on edge.

He had always joked to Yukio that he wouldn't miss him. But in truth, Rin missed his brother more than he knew. He missed his cynicism, his attitude, even the way he constantly nagged him when Rin didn't finish his homework. He missed Shiemi and her constant smile and motherly attitude, Shima's paranoia of bugs, Bon's arrogance and constant wanting to help, Konekomaru's easy and helpful attitude, and even Eyebrow's glare even though she was the most loyal of the group.

It was strange how much he missed them. He hadn't even known them that long. But maybe it was because, for the first time, someone his age actually knew who he was and didn't hate him for it. Sure, it had been rough at first, but they remained with him with the end. Rin never had friends before but, now that he did, he couldn't imagine how he lived before without them.

If it wasn't for Yukio, maybe he would have become just what Satan would have wanted.

A weapon.

Suddenly something caught his eye; a change in the light perhaps, a sudden brightening of the walls. When Rin turned he realized that he had found a window. A window that revealed Gehenna in its entirety. He ran towards it and pressed his palms on the cold glass, imagining what it would be like to breath the fresh air.

_But not fresh, huh? _After all, this was Gehenna. Everything was different here.

There weren't even stars.

* * *

_Tada! The end! Time for comments!_

Miss Light Bright: _Ah. Well, I supposed I changed the rules of my updates so the rant doesn't count anymore. But seriously. I'm gonna update so don't worry about asking me for some. But besides that, thank you! :)_

LostStrandofThought: _IKR?! :D That's how it's like in my head too - like the anime - and I just write it down. You have no idea how happy it makes me that you see it too!_

greatgirl22303: _you like 'just about' everything? Woooow. -_- __**Nah**__, I'm not a turd like that I'm only teasing you! :D Thank you and I'm glad you like it so far! By the way - KH for the win. _

Clarity in Scarlet: _Shiemi is awesome! _

Dowgma: _Hahahah I worry for you man. Let the carnage commence! :D_

_...the heck? It's already midnight? Geezums! Good night everyone, sweet dreams, and watch out for the bed bugs because they're freakin' huge! xD_


	17. Chapter 14 - Assaih

_'Sup guys. My moving-out day countdown just hit 3 today. I'm leaving Friday morning and driving all the way up north (not snow-north, just colder-north. [I live south by the beach, so 'colder' isn't that hard to get to hahah]) but it's such a beautiful university! It's location is hilly-country, but it's an hour away from a city, the beach, an amusement park, and yeah. It's literally just about the best place. I love the country. _

_Erm. Sooo, this is mostly Shiemi's POV, but I put down Yukio's POV because it looked better in the chapters. I'm considered just changing it all to Assaih chapter / Gehenna chapter. _

_Yeah._

_That's what I'm gonna do._

_Anyway, __*****WARNING: AMAIMON'S POV CONTAINS **__**M-RATED MATERIAL.**__** PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND AS YOU CONTINUE READING.*****_

_I mean, he's a demon. You guys wanted an M-rated story. From here on out, this is how it was meant to be written. __**This story is not for immature children. **__However, before I freak all of you out, keep in mind that I'm not a disgusting person. _

_Basically, please be mature. _

* * *

...

**_Shiemi POV_**

**_..._**

****The night was cold against her skin. Stars twinkled in the air like diamonds winking above the dark clouds, like snowflakes falling from a pale sky. The moon was bright, a luminous orb above the quiet streets.

Shiemi ran. She ran with everything she had. Her footsteps echoed on the cobblestone road, her breathing faint in the dark night. A lamp flickered as moths assaulted its sickly yellow light, the beats of their wings barely audible.

She didn't know why she was running like she was. Didn't understand what drove her to sprint down the street, her scarf flapping in the wind behind her, as she ran down the winding roads of the Academy. It was as if something was chasing her, like midnight hands stretching out of every shadow, like slender fingers wrapping around her throat, like cold whispers telling her to _hurry, _to _hurry, _lest it be too late.

And so she ran. Ran for Yukio, to tell him that she was here for him. That she understood what it was like to lose a person so important to you that the world seemed dull and gray after they were gone. She wanted to tell him that she understood what it felt like to look across the table and expect to see a face, to turn your head to tell that someone a joke, only to realize with cruel brutality that they were gone.

Except, in Yukio's case, there was a slim chance that Rin could come back.

As for Shiemi . . .

. . . her grandmother was lost forever. Forever.

But she stopped blaming herself long ago. She stopped blaming herself when Rin and Yukio visited her in the garden that day, when Rin accidently broke down the gate and then Yukio shot her with some nutrients. However, that memory was hazy, but she distinctly remembered that getting shot didn't hurt. Instead, it was as if all the weight of the world was removed from her shoulders, just as the demon removed itself off of hers.

Shiemi turned her head to the sky, to that bright sky speckled with shining stars.

_I wonder, _she thought to herself, _if I ever said thank you for that._

**...**

**_Amaimon POV (_**_remember what I said about being mature...?__**)**_

**_..._**

****Humans, Amaimon decided, were boring. Mind-numbingly boring, except for purple-eyed boob wonder over there in the corner. He had amused himself by watching her move around, always bobbing around the glasses-human and whispering in his ear. She was, as far as Amaimon understood, drunk.

But he hadn't been around humans long enough to know. Perhaps it was like the drugs of Gehenna, but he knew that _those _would kill a human; first the sexual madness would set in, and eventually they would simply die of exhaustion and malnutrition, the drug still coursing through their veins.

Amaimon didn't know that it had that effect. When he told Mephisto, the older demon only laughed and said that he discovered that _years _ago. The trick was to only administer the drug in small amounts; it kept them addicted, and therefore kept them coming back for more.

How else could the headmaster kill so many exorcists for his Gehenna Gate?

However, Amaimon had long grown bored of watching the purple-eyed exorcist jiggle around and glance in his direction. Rin's brother was incredibly boring to watch; constantly cleaning the metal guns, his eyes a thousand miles away.

And, when neither of them were looking, the demon simply walked out of the room. The door shut soundlessly behind him. Amaimon wanted fresh air, the freedom of the sky, to feel the dirt beneath his feet. The only reason he stayed in that room was because they were going to help him rescue Mephisto.

That's it.

There was nothing more than that.

He opened the front door and jumped into the cold night.

**...**

**_Shiemi POV_**

**_..._**

Shiemi turned her head towards the sky, meaning to look at the moon, but she saw something else instead. She frowned -

- and it suddenly landed directly in front of her. She stifled a scream - _Rin wouldn't scream - _when the cobblestone road cracked and dented at the point of impact. Wind from the blast pushed her blond hair out of her eyes, and her scarf sailed behind her. Her skirt brushed against her thighs until the wind died down.

"Ah. You."

Shiemi, blinking, slowly lowered her arms. There was someone standing in front of her; he was tall, silhouetted by the light of the lamps and the pale glow of the moon. However, there was no mistaking that unicorn horn on top of his head.

"Amaimon," she breathed, taking a step back. Blood gone cold, she reached into her pocket. Her fingers brushed against the smooth paper of her charm; Nii-chan's charm, her little green-man familiar. In this situation, Yukio would calmly annilize the strengths and weaknesses of battle, and then use them to his advantage.

But all Shiemi could do was try to control her erratic breathing as her heart thumped wildly in her chest. She remembered the last time she met the demon Amaimon, though it was like peering through a foggy window. She did, however, remember his long tongue coming closer to her, and then a blast of blue fire.

It went dark after that.

She swallowed thickly. "What do you want?" she demanded.

But Amaimon didn't even register. He scratched his head and yawned. "Are you helping purple-eyes and Rin's brother too?" he asked lazily.

Shiemi blinked._ Yukio. _"Yes," she said, her hostility fading from her. "Are - Are you?"

"Uh-huh. Here." Amaimon held out his hand. "Come with me."

Shiemi eyed him distrustfully. "To where?"

"To purple-eyes and Rin's brother," Amaimon replied. "To help."

Shiemi frowned as two sides warred within her. One half wanted to take the hand, the other wanted to cut off the entire arm. But he didn't seem as hostile before; he wasn't trying to kill anyone, wasn't trying to kiss her. Instead he seemed most sincere, as if he was honestly going to help her.

It went against everything she had been taught, everything she had experienced, but Shiemi took a deep breath and took the demon's hand.

* * *

_Yeah, another slow chapter. Sorry. This chapter mostly dealt with Shiemi's emotions. I'm doing my best to weave in the actual story and this fanfic as best as I can, and besides; this will all come to play later. Trust me on this one._

_Anyway, this was also my first time dabbling into the M-rated stuff. Got into how Mephisto managed to kill all of those exorcists. Sick and twisted, huh? But these aren't nice guys; these are demons, and they're going to act like it._

_Comments!_

Dowgma: _Well, Rin's emotions have to go somewhere, right? }:) Trust me, the explosion is coming._

Emily Blue Paw: _IZUMO. THAT's her face. Thanks hahahah I completely forgot and was too lazy to look it up. Hence, Eyebrows. xD By the way - love all of the reviews! :) thank you!_


	18. Chapter 15 - Gehenna

_So, I'm leaving in two days, right? So my thinking is that I'll just post a bunch of chapters ('a bunch' as in 'maybe two if I'm lucky') and then probably disappear off the face of the earth while I figure this university-stuff out. _

_Anyway, story-time! MY INTERNET CAUGHT ON FIRE YESTERDAY. Yep. My little bro discovered it and went 'omg the internet box is melted' and then the next four hours was spent trying to replace / fix it. Honestly, from my corner of wifi-less despair, I didn't think it would work. But it did. And it's GORGEOUS~_

_So, that's my story. But whatev. Here's the Gehenna POV (yeah, I changed the names of the chapters; did anyone notice?) and enjoy the show. A pretty dang long chapter this time because shit goes down. This is for you, blood-guts-and-gore dudes. Comments at the end, like usual. _

_*** I changed the title again; honestly, I never liked Finders Keepers. I really like Dust and Ashes. It won't be changed again, I promise hahah_

* * *

**_..._**

**_Raziele POV_**

**_..._**

The fire of the torches, mounted to the wall, flickered as Raziele walked past. The flames seemed to wave to him, but in a greeting or goodbye, he didn't know. All he knew was that he hated this place, hated this place and everyone in it.

Well, there were a few exceptions. Agni was one; if the rations were low and all he wanted was another bite of food, she would end up giving him ten. Rin was the other exception; the hybrid, like him, didn't know anything about this place. Didn't know of the brutality in the corners, didn't understand the tight weave of control this place truly had. If he got caught in its web, Rin would be lost. Raziele _knew _that, and knew that time was running out.

The grace period was ending.

And Rin would have to face the real world: _This _world, and somehow come out of the experience without losing himself.

Raziele smiled, a helpless smile, and used the wall to lean against. His vision was swimming; Hades, and the slaves beneath him, hadn't been very kind. Even now the still-healing whip lashes on his back burned and stung as they struggled to regenerate, but Raziele hardly had any energy left to spare. He was too busy focusing on just walking in a straight line.

"Isolation my ass," he hissed. Hades had better get his slaves in line before Satan decided to pay a visit, or he'd lose half of them at least. Hell, maybe some of the slaves would be better off dead. Lucifer knows how bad they have it off.

_But at least, _he grimaced, forcing himself to stand again, _it's not me. _It was almost him; after Beelzebub killed his mother with the bubonic plague, he had 'adopted' Raziele. Little Raziele, who didn't know anything, who missed his mom more than anything, who watched her die as her skin blackened and rotted while she was alive, who watched her puke blood as her lungs filled with water. He watched his mom, the sun in a world so dark, have seizure after seizure until one day, she just never woke up.

They dumped her in a pit after that. A nameless pit, full of other bodies, and burned them all. Raziele remembered the smoke curling to the black, starless sky, the feeling of Beelzebub's large hand painfully crushing his small, child hand as he forced the toddler to watch. Raziele remembered screaming, crying, and when the fire went away, all that was left in that black pit were charred bodies. Just charred, nameless, smoldering bodies. Little Raziele cried that day.

He had never cried again.

He made certain of it. Not even when Beelzebub chained him to the floor and fed him worse than animals, not when Beelzebub beat him, futilely, into submission. He didn't make a sound, not a single sound. It was like he was dead inside.

But one day, something inside of him broke. He was a little bit older then and hid inside one of the cupboards of the kitchen. He was so tiny; malnutrition had a role in that, and the sight of all the food dragged more emotion from his numb body than years of beatings ever could.

And that's how Agni found him; little Raziele, curled up inside the cupboard, holding onto a loaf of bread like it the most precious thing in the world. He smiled at the memory; he had tried to attack her, actually. He, after the early years of living in a room with his human mother and the more recent chained to the ground, he had hardly any human left inside of him. The human was beaten to practically nothing; the demon, however, was more alive than ever and it demanded to live.

Agni was a threat, and he quickly learned that, in Gehenna, it was better to falsely destroy a perceived threat than wait until you knew for certain. He remembered that he had bit her hand, like a stray cat, but instead she placed a single apple in front of him and walked away.

That red apple was the best thing Raziele had ever tasted. The sudden sweet taste, the sugar, had almost made him faint when he had bitten into it.

Hades had told him not to give himself up for someone else. But in truth, Raziele say a bit of himself in Rin; the cluelessness, the innocence, and what would happen if the others got his hands on him. Raziele balled his fist against the wall; he couldn't let that happen, _couldn't _let Rin fall like Raziele fell.

After all, they were brothers, weren't they?

Suddenly Raziele's vision swam. The attack was so intense he fell to his knees. The world around him darkened, and he blacked out.

**_..._**

**_Rin POV_**

**_..._**

Rin wasn't sure how long he stared out the window, stared at the sky and wondered if there was maybe a single star hidden behind that cloud, or that the lighting was off and he just couldn't see them. It was such a little thing, almost insignificant, but it unnerved Rin more than cared to admit.

Suddenly, he didn't want to be outside his room anymore.

He turned away from the window to the outside world and began to run, run down the halls like there were shadows on the floor, shadows that were chasing him, screaming behind him, their long midnight fingers reaching for his ankles. His heart beat like a wild thing in his chest; suddenly, for a reason he could not explain, he was terrified.

The emotions he had kept buried and locked away from the moment he arrived began to crack. His vision was going white, his ears rang. His breathing was harsh in his throat, and cold sweat trickled down his spine.

He wanted to go home.

He didn't _want _to be here. He couldn't take it, couldn't take it a moment longer, couldn't take having to look where he walked just in case something would kill him just for walking the wrong way. He wanted to go home, to where Yukio and Shura and Shiemi and Kuro were, to where his friends were, to where he could wake up without wondering what would happen the next morning. He hated this, hated this place, missed his home, missed it to the point that he could barely stand it. It was like a physical ache in his chest, a steady throb that made the slightest movement painful.

_Why did I draw that sword on that day?_

He turned the corner and slipped, then hit the ground hard. His head thwacked against the hard floor and, for a moment, his vision went blank. But it passed a moment later and Rin was running again, running with nowhere to run to, running like the devil was chasing him home.

That is, until he saw a familiar body lying on the floor. Rin paused, breathing hard; _Raziele? _Was that Raziele? It had to be; the faint pink hair, the slender body, the pale skin.

But it was paler than it should be.

"Raziele," Rin whispered, a harsh sound in his throat. Adrenaline made his hands shook and he knelt beside Raziele; blood had seeped through the white cotton of his shirt, just angry scarlet lines that looked like an etch-a-sketch. "Raziele," he said again, panic making his throat tight.

The demon's rosy eyelashes fluttered open and suddenly his arm snapped up, his slender fingers wrapping around Rin's throat. Rin hardly breathed as his own hand instinctively clenched onto Raziele's wrist, but he was careful not to accidently bruise the pale skin.

"Ra - Raziele," Rin whispered. "It's me. R - Rin."

Raziele's partially opened cherry eyes widened briefly, and the hand that held Rin's neck relaxed slightly. "Rin?"

"Yeah," Rin replied. An icy calm suddenly came over him, and the emotions that had overtaken him moments ago were stuffed back into the dark corner of his mind. "Come on; we need to get you out of this hallway."

"Damn you," Raziele murmured. His hand fell limp to the ground like a dead thing. "Damn you for finding me first."

"You'll thank me later," Rin replied, slowly helping the older demon sit up. Raziele leaned against the floor, his gaze locked on the ceiling. "What happened?"

At that, Raziele dryly laughed. A little color came back to his cheeks. "_'Isolation chamber'_," he said, using his fingers as quotations. Suddenly his voice got an icy chill to it. "Isolation chamber my ass," he continued with a hiss. There was no happy-go-lucky attitude to his voice, no hidden smile, no cheery thought embellishing every word.

Instead, for the first time, Rin saw Raziele as the demon he was truly capable of. But instead of scaring him, it reassured him. There wasn't a doubt in Rin's mind that Raziele wouldn't be okay. "Here," he said, holding out his hand, "I'll help you - "

_Stand._

But he never got to that last word. A sudden hand, large and muscular, wrapped around Rin's head and threw him backward. He slammed against the far wall, leaving a tent. He felt a few ribs crack, break, shatter beneath the pressure and he cried out. He then fell heavily onto the floor, onto his hands and knees, but even they gave up on him and he toppled over, wondering what just happened.

However, it was only when the frothy blood, mixed with his own spit, suddenly splattered onto the floor when a cough wracked his body that he knew that he was seriously hurt.

"_Rin!_" Raziele shouted, and Rin could hear him struggling to get to his feet. However, there was a second blast beside him; when Rin mustered the energy to look, Raziele was slumped beside him on the floor, blood seeping through his white cotton shirt, the back of his rosy head turning scarlet from the blood.

"Raziele?" Rin whispered, reaching over with his arm. He gently nudged the demon's shoulder slightly. "Raziele?" he said again, but there was no response. Nothing. Not even a breath.

_Dead?_

Something chilled inside of Rin.

_Is Raziele dead?_

He slowly glanced upward to the attacker, but the most he could see were the bottom of black dress-trousers and black shoes. Hatred swelled inside of him; hatred, fear, panic, self-loathing, denial.

_Raziele can't be dead. _

It just . . . it just wasn't possible. Inconceivable.

And yet his chest didn't rise with every faint breath, he didn't stir, didn't speak, didn't move. Nothing. Just laid there on the ground like a dead thing as blood tripped from his pink hair and onto the floor, from his back to the rubble of the wall they laid on.

Dead.

And Rin went berserk.

He didn't have Kurikara, but at this moment, he didn't need it. Blue flames enveloped him and his upper incisors dug into his bottom lip, drawing blood even as he opened his mouth in a scream. Within moments he had gotten to his feet, his arms swaying lifelessly in front of him even as the bones snapped back into place, the tendons stitched themselves together. The skin that had been torn off of Rin's face from the initial blow pieced itself together like a puzzle as the world went blue, the same blue as the sapphire sky, the ocean, the blood-lust he now felt.

He didn't know who attack them. He realized that he didn't care. The lock and key his emotions were buried under didn't just crack; it shattered, the fragments spiraling in all directions, and the blaze burned brighter.

When he opened his mouth to scream again, it no longer sounded human. This was Rin the demon, through and through, the Prince of Gehenna that demanded to be paid for the attack in blood-money.

He crouched, his body now pieced together, and lunged. The world passed by in blurs of sapphire hues as his hand flattened, exposing the lethal claws, and he swung at the demon's neck.

Thick neck, the chest covered by a black suit and tie. The demon laughed, a familiar laugh, and his hand snapped forward to catch Rin's at the wrist.

"Good," the demon whispered, his breath hot against Rin's elongated ear, "but not good enough."

Suddenly the demon grabbed Rin's arm with both hands and brought his knee up, cleanly breaking the bone at the forearm. Rin screamed but the pain didn't register; nothing did, only hate, hate, hate -

- _I am going to kill this man, burn him dead, dead, dead, dead - _

_- dead, dead, burn him to soot and ashes._

His pupils elongated, the three-patterned swirl began to form.

_Burn him to the ground. _

Rin, with his good hand, reached forward and grabbed the demon's face. The blue flame inside of Rin began to build, a physical ache in his chest that demanded release, demanded to be set free but there was no way, no way to just let the flames go, so the pressure just continued to build and build and build and Rin's hand spasmed on the demon's face; he couldn't take the pressure much longer, the pressure that ached and screamed inside of him like a wild thing, and it just kept on building and building and _building . . ._

_Snap. _

The world exploded in a titillation of sapphire blue and star-flame white. Rin screamed. The air popped from the sudden change of pressure and the air began to boil. The thick carpet, warn down the center, burned into a fit of flame as the walls blackened and burst with blue fire.

And yet the demon in front of Rin continued to laugh, laugh and laugh and laugh . . .

. . . and Rin, completely spent, collapsed to the floor. The flame that surrounded his body disappeared completely, though the flames around him continued to burn and belch black smoke into the hallway. Rin didn't care. He felt hollow, numb, empty, just a dead thing on the floor. He couldn't even feel pain.

A hand reached down and wrapped slender fingers around Rin's neck, lifting him off the floor until his feet dangled in the open, heated air. A piece of the ceiling gave way and crashed to the floor, sending bits of wood spiraling into the air where the burnt away to ash.

"That was good, Rin," the demon whispered, "but pointless. You're coming with me."

And then Rin was suddenly cradled in thick, warm arms. A part of him screeched that something was wrong. The other just wanted to close his eyes and sleep forever.

"But, my lord Satan," said another voice, "there's another one, on the floor - "

"Leave it, Azazel," Satan stated, turning to walk down the burning hall. "It's useless to us."

There was a pause, and then, "Of course, my lord."

* * *

_OOOOOOOOOH SHIIIIIIIIIT. Another King of Hell. Dun-dun-duuuuuun! :D :D :D_

_But I won't say another word about that. How was the long chapter? :) It's literally two-three times as long as regular chapters, so you all better appreciate the two hours of work I put into this. Yes, two. whole. hours. _

_And you know what I just realized? I get emotionally attached to my own characters. Ack. This story is gonna be brutal._

_Anyway, comment's time!_

Edwenlas: _Well damn. I wish you had an account so I could just PM you and not use up an entire crippin' paragraph to explain why Yukio is cleaning his pistols, but whatever. Yukio will be taking this one step at a time. Why clean the guns? Because he needs them later and if they screw up the mission, they're all dead or worse. Why not interrogate Amaimon then and there? Because the dude will continue to be there even __after __the whole rescue-mission because 1) he has nowhere else to go and 2) he will be sticking to Mephisto like glue, and so there will be plenty of time for questions after the rescue operation (if it goes well) and, instead of asking Amaimon who's communication skills suck, they can ask Mephisto who's the mastermind of the entire operation. That's why Yukio is cleaning his guns instead of interrogating the demon; like a said early, one thing at a time. Trust me, I actually think about these chapters before I scribble them down. And yeah, I know, I'm probably being an ass and sorry if I sound a bit rude, but it really rubs me the wrong way when people tell me how my story should be written. I'm totally fine with ideas or people telling me I got some typos; I actually appreciate those. But reviews that flat-out tell people that they could write it better? That's a thousand times more rude than what I'm being right now. If you have a problem, please write your own story instead of criticizing other people's. Thanks._

InsaniumArtisan: _Really? o_o I don't read M-rated material here, so I'm not really sure how far to go hahah. And by the way, you're dead-on; the demon - drugs are INCREDIBLY important to this story. :)_

Clarity in Scarlet: _Whooo go Shiemi! (and yeah; I'm still working on how to write an M-rated story. It's so much different from T, actually. I was surprised. But no worry; I'll get the hang of it eventually! :) One chapter at a time!) :D_

Dowgma: _hahahahah dude I love how excited you are about this story. Thank you so much! Literally, it means a lot to me :)_

Emily Blue Paw: _About the Raziele - tab . . . I should do that. I'll get started next chapter! :D thanks for the idea!_

_Six-page story complete (not counting the other stuff). _

_Have an amazing day and stay awesome, _

_Rand0mSmil3z_

_(PS - has anyone been reading/watching Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titans)? Because I discovered this yesterday and I'm obsessed hahah)_


	19. Chapter 16 - Assaih

_Um. Guys. Today is my last day home. I'm leaving for my university tomorrow. Honestly, I was really excited to go, and it was fun going shopping and talking to my friends about leaving, but now I'm kinda scared hahah. Don't get me wrong, I'm still excited, but from here on out I'm not sure what's going to happen. What it's going to be like, if everything will work out okay, if I'll make friends, if I'll forget my new address and get lost on my way home. I'm going to a new town, starting a new life, and everyone I knew will wave at me when I'm gone. _

_I almost don't want to leave. I do, I really do and I'm looking forward to going, but my nerves are getting the better of me hahah. I'll try to keep it from translating into this chapter, but we'll see. _

_I'm planning on a double-upload today. No comments at the end, but I want you guys to know that I appreciate all of the reviews and all of the support. :) Honestly, you guys are the best readers. Thank you for being awesome._

_And sorry for the length of this chapter. It's honestly just a filler-chapter for the next Assaih chapter; mostly to get from point A to point B. I'll make up for it later today._

* * *

**_..._**

**_Yukio POV_**

**_..._**

****It felt as if his mind was running around in circles.

Are the guns clean enough? Will they jam? Will he be able to rely on Shura? And what about Angel; she had mentioned during the trial hearing that she wanted to use him in the escape plan, but hasn't mentioned him since.

Now that he thought about he, she also mentioned looping the security camera footage and getting invisibility cloaks but, so far, that she hasn't gotten them. All she got was drunk.

A headache pierced through his conscious and he rubbed the bridge of his nose; this was such an ill-thought of plan, with hardly any preparation at all, with so many loose ends and -

_- and the demon. _

Yukio spun and, to his abject horror, Amaimon had disappeared. It felt as if he had swallowed a gallon of ice water.

"Shura!" he shouted, "wake up!"

She rolled off of Rin's bed, yawning, and nearly fell off. "Whaaa . . . ?"

"Amaimon's gone!" Yukio continued, shoving his guns into their holsters. _Damn it. _Damn himself for not paying attention, for thinking too much about variables that he could not control. Damn Shura and her drinking, Damn Mephisto, Damn this whole goddamn night. "I'm going to go find hi - "

_Thwack. _

Something hit the window and bounced off. Yukio, not expecting the noise, jumped from surprise and ran to the window. Shura only yawned.

"He left a _while _ago," she murmured. "See? He's back already."

And it was true. Amaimon had his hand shoved into the exterior wall and was using the other to knock on the window pane. Yukio blinked, stunned, before opening the window. He didn't trust the demon in the least, but it was the small hands clinging to his shoulders that forced him into action.

"Slow," Amaimon stated, stepping from the desk to the floor like it was a stair.

Suddenly there was a sudden gasp. "_I thought I was gonna die!_" said a familiar voice, and Shiemi dropped from his back to the ground. Her face was pale and she was clutched at her heart, taking deep breathes.

Yukio was star-struck. "Sh - Shiemi?!"

She blinked; her green eyes seemed luminous in the pale moonlight, and she smiled at him before suddenly realizing something and putting on a serious face. "I - I've come to help you save Rin!" she stammered out, then looked blankly at Shura slumped on the floor by Rin's bed. "That's what you guys are doing, right?"

She didn't sound too sure of herself.

Yukio made a face; he hadn't expected her to come, but what did he expect? This was Shiemi after all and, despite her sweet personality, she was stubborn to a fault and usually had the last word in any conversation to prove it.

Worse, when it came to arguments she was passionate about, she was always right. Always.

Yukio didn't even have a chance.

"We're breaking Mephisto out of prison," he said. Might as well get it over with. "We need him to make a Gehenna Gate."

Shiemi glanced at Amaimon, who was standing by the wall. His arms were crossed over his chest and he looked down on her like she was an insect, nothing more. But then the moment passed and he looked away. "I just want Mephisto back," he said simply. "I can't break the chains."

"I can break the chains," Shiemi said hurriedly. "With Nii-chan."

"Are you certain?" Yukio asked.

Shiemi nodded.

_That's one loose end that's tied off, _he thought. At least he wouldn't have to steal the key; truth be told, he didn't want another black mark added to his soon-to-be pitch-black record.

_Not, _he added as an afterthought, _that it would make much of a difference._

"And I," Shura suddenly exclaimed, wiping her eyes and yawning once again, "didn't _just _get drunk, ya moley four-eyes."

Yukio turned his dry glare towards her. "Explain."

Shura smiled; a dangerous, wicked smile fitting for a demon. "I went to hang out with the security guards," she grinned, her violet eyes twinkling. "They're worse off than I am . . . and I also looped the security tape while I was at it. See?" she added, standing to bop Yukio on the nose. "I _am _helpful."

* * *

_Next Assaih chapter: Operation: Break Mephisto Out of Jail. Look forward to it! Even though I don't know when I can upload it. Sorry about the cliffhanger. I got a text message in the middle of this chapter and it completely killed all motivation to write. People can be such clueless assholes. I'm begging you, you guys, never turn into one of those. _

_ But you're all so sweet and amazing, I'm sure I have nothing to worry about. :P_

_ Another chapter later today. Excuse me while I crawl into a hole and block out the world. _

_ Stay awesome,_

_ Rand0mSmil3z _


	20. Chapter 17 - Gehenna

_. . . . . I have really nothing to say, so let's skip the introduction and go straight to the underworld. My mood went south due to the previously mentioned idiot and so it will be translated into my writing. I would apologize, but I think that a lot of you will actually enjoy it. Lot's of content in this shortie._

_Comments will be at the end, plus a little farewell-for-now note. :) *fingers crossed*_

* * *

**_..._**

**_Rin POV_**

**_..._**

****_The sky was burning. _

_ Red streaked across the charcoal clouds, singing them scarlet. Weeds ignited and withered as the flames greedily devoured them. People screamed. The edge of a sword glinted red as it cut through an arm, neatly severing it down the bone. Rin watched in horror as it fell, still twitching, onto the ground below. In its hand was a gun._

_ Flames took it immediately. The skin blistered, bubbled, turned black and fell off of the pale bone. Sinew that had pieced it together caught the flame and burned away. Someone was screaming, the owner of the arm, and fell to his knees before Rin, his turqouise wide as he clutched at the stump of his arm with his other hand, the blood running between his fingers._

_ Someone was standing above him, laughing. "Pathetic," the man, who Rin recognized as Satan, cackled, and the other raised his sea-blue gaze at the blade, his face hidden from a black hood. The blade the demon was holding fell and neatly cut through the neck. Rin could see the spine as the body slumped and fell, the dirt sopping up the blood like a greedy thing. The hood fell away, revealing the face even as it rolled to a stop in front of Rin._

_ His breath caught in his throat._

_ Yukio?_

Rin woke up screaming. Sweat plastered his navy-blue hair to his forehead as he jackknifed into a sitting position, displacing the covers that fell to the floor. His heart beat in his chest like a wild thing, his breath caught in his throat as his eyes burned with tears that would not fall.

Hands shaking, he raised them to his face.

"A dream," he told himself, repeated to himself like a mantra. "It was a dream."

But it was too real. Too real. Even now Rin could feel the heat of the flames, could smell the burning flesh in the air, could feel the sticky condensation of the burned fatty lipids on his lips. He licked them; they felt dry and chapped, but otherwise normal.

It didn't taste like blood.

Chest heaving he threw his legs over the bed -

- and lost his balance when his balance when his movement was stopped short. With a strangled cry he fell in a tangle of limbs and chains.

Rin felt as if his veins were replaced with ice.

_Chains._

Suddenly a voice said, "Couldn't have you escape, could we?"

Rin's head snapped up, his blood chilling even further. He hadn't noticed anyone else in this room, this room full of dark stone. There was no light to speak up, and the bed itself felt lumpy and soiled. He could only imagine the amount of bugs crawling in the mattress.

He swallowed, trying to vain to wet his throat. "Who are you?" he demanded.

The demon stood upright and grinned, revealing jagged teeth. Blood and pus oozed from his lower lip where the teeth continuously broke the fragile skin. "Hades," he stated, and descended into a mock-bow. "At your service, little Prince."

Rin bared his teeth in a snarl. "Where am I?" he demanded. "Where's Raziele?" He tugged on the chains for good measure; as expected, they burned his skin, but not like before. Rin tried to ignore it.

"_You, _little Price, are in my realm," Hades informed the younger demon, "and Raziele, as far as I am concerned, is dead."

Rin blinked. That last part hadn't made any sense. "What?"

"That's right," Hades grinned, delighting in the horrified look on Rin's face. "Dead. Heard that he was thrown in some pit and burned."

"_You lie!_" Rin screamed. His flames ignited on his skin, but only for a moment. The chains suddenly burned against his skin to the point where they began to smoke, and Rin's scream of anger turned into a desperate shout of pain as they burned and burned and burned.

Hades look unimpressed for a moment, then disappeared. Rin stared, a cry lodged in his throat, when suddenly five sharp nails drove into his neck. Rin gasped as they broke the skin and he felt warm, sticky liquid drip down to his collarbone.

"Listen, hybrid," Hades hissed. "I don't care if you're the son of the Big Man himself or fucking god himself, do you understand me?"

Rin wanted to say something to the demon, a whole lot of things in fact, but his windpipe was slowly being crushed. All that came out of his throat was bloody, frothy spit.

Hades smiled and nipped his faintly pointed ear, drawing blood. "Good," he said, and backed off. He wrenched his hand out of Rin's throat; scarlet splattered on the stained sheets and Rin gasped for air, coughing when he inhaled the warm red liquid. "Let me tell you something," the demon continued, leaning against the doorframe. Blood dripped from his fingers and to the floor. "Lord Satan wanted you kept in quarantine until he's ready for you. Until then, you stay put."

"Go . . . to hell," Rin hissed.

At that Hades laughed; it was a harsh sound, echoed off the walls and grated against Rin's ears. "We're already there!" the demon shrieked as he laughed. "_Welcome to hell!_"

* * *

_Another short filler chapter, but with a lot of content. Sense the foreshadowing? Yep. And by the way, a lot of people really liked Raziele! That's so cool. I'm considering it a medal of honor that Raziele, a poor and lowly OC, was so loved. Honestly, in the beginning I was wondering if I should actually add him and Xavier, but I'm so happy that I didn't make the wrong choice. Continue being awesome, people. _

Emily Blue Paw: _Rofl. Not to knock wind out of your sails, but your Azazel pun took me a while. :P :P :P Nah I'm just kidding. You're so punny._

anatric: _I'm glad you liked it xD And thank you! :) As soon as I can, I'll upload another chapter. _

AnonymousAndrea: _Poor Raziele. AND OMG DUDE IT'S SO COOL. I'VE FINALLY CAUGHT UP IN THE MANGA! I'm on chapter three of the anime and I'm gonna try to write another chapter of my novel before I watch it! it's my motivation wahahahah_

blackchaosaria2501: _and you like SnK toooooo?! Way to go man, you just climbed way up on my list of awesome people!_

Dowgma: _You're just gonna have to wait and see ;)_

Clarity in Scarlet: _Yeah dude. Action is gonna be everything these next couple of chapters. And thank you! :) :) :)_

_All right; comments are done. __**Shout-out to everyone, **__thanks for reading this story! You're all the most amazing people and I hope I'll have the honor to write to you all again soon._

_Goodbye! Wish me luck tomorrow! I'm going to need it. :)_

_*fingers crossed* - Rand0mSmil3z_


	21. Chapter 18 - Assaih

_You all won't believe what happened to me just now. So there was a fire drill in my dorm, and guess who was in the shower. Yeah, that's right. Moi. I was totally rocking the angry bird t-shirt and jammie bottoms with my lime-green towel. It totally sucked. _

_Anyway, my classes are totally screwed up. The system bugged and, while my biology major was accepted, it was never confirmed and I was registered into my university's system as undeclared. Aka I had no science classes first semester and so my schedule has just been thrown up into the air. Basically, I'm completely stressed and more than a little scared, but I'm going to de-stress by writing this and watching an episode of Attack on Titan. I did my share of homework and studying for the day._

_Oh. And I locked myself out of my dorm twice. And I still have to register my bike. And I'm feeling really overwhelmed with all of this. I'm blaming my school. Dang them and their faulty system. Now I have to wade through all of this crap to get to where I need to be. _

_Oh well. Here's chapter whatever. Enjoy._

* * *

**_..._**

**_Yukio POV_**

**_..._**

The lights were out and shadows basked the hallway. Yukio's footsteps echoed on the cold stone floor, and every small sound sent a small tremor shooting up his spine. His hands were cold and clammy, his heart a wild thing in his chest, but his face was stoic. Unemotional. Blank.

He was in control.

Shiemi walked silently behind him, her rounded face pale and scared, her mouth a firm line. On her shoulder the green-man familiar sat, his rich emerald color in the shadows almost as rich as the hue in Shiemi's eyes. Amaimon walked causally behind her and yet, with his erratic gate, his footfalls were silent. It was almost unnerving, and Yukio made sure to keep one eye on the demon and the other on the path he trod on. Shura took up the rear, her slightly flushed face uncharacteristically serious.

Yukio returned his focus to their path. It was simply enough; slip past the guards and slip into the Vatican, and then cautiously make their way to the prison cell where Mephisto was kept.

So simple. So deadly. One wrong move would have all of their heads rolling for treason. In a world built on trust, there was very few things worse than outright betrayal.

After all, look at what happened to Mephisto.

_No no no. Don't think about that, _Yukio berated himself. His hands clenched into tight fists, straining the material of his gloves. _Don't think about it. _

And yet he thought. The silence in the hallway only made his thoughts louder, louder until they were screaming in his mind, demanding attention. They screamed of betrayal, betrayal to the Exorcist Institution for going against their laws, betrayal to his father for not protecting Rin, betrayal to himself for not noticing the signs that something was incredibly wrong before this all went down, betrayal to his friends - students - for leaving them behind.

Betrayal.

It was the poison that ran through his veins, burned through him like a fire. Those thoughts haunted him, the poison weakened him, and it was all he could do to hold himself together.

And yet, in this moment as they slowly descended the steps of the Vatican, his pounding heart slowly faded to a drone. His cold hands stilled, his face remained cast in stone. Years of training in this place, beaten into him until he bled, was now the training he used to break the cornerstone of their laws.

Betrayal.

The four of them slowly stepped into an open room. It wasn't well lit; a candle burned on a small wooden table, thrown haphazardly in the corner, and there were a variety of torches mounted on the wall. Shadows danced on the hard stone, dancing to a rhythm only they could hear. In the corner, lounging in their seats, three guards sat snoring on hard wooden chairs. Their faces were flushed, their breath the scent of alcohol. In front of them was a single computer screen, now blank.

"They're great drinkers," Shura murmured. A sly grin quirked at her full lips.

Yukio didn't smile, though he might have considered trying in a different situation. But now, all he wanted was to think. What was the next step, the next door, the next corner they had to pass.

But Shura had other ideas.

"I got the laptop," she whispered, gently picking it up. "It's connected to the security tapes; I looped them, but it would be a great time to overwrite them right now."

"Why bother?" hissed Yukio. The mere sound of his voice made his nerves jump; every echo seemed to bounce on the walls even louder than before.

Shura glanced at him, scarlet from the fire dancing in her violet eyes. "To see Mephisto," she replied.

"Which cell is he in?" Shiemi asked. She seemed nervous.

"Corner cell," Shura and Yukio replied at the same time.

Yukio added, "on the right side."

Shiemi blinked. "Oh."

_..._

**_Amaimon POV_**

_..._

This was taking too long.

Amaimon bit at his nails, drawing blood when he cut too close to the quick. He liked the taste of it; iron, a little bit salt and a little bit tang, and warm. He liked warmth, like warm things. He liked warm drinks in particular; once, Mephisto had given him a class of apple cider during a holiday called "Christmas". It was sweet, incredibly so, and tasted good.

He liked sweet things.

Amaimon turned back to Rin's brother and Big-Boobs, along with Cute-Timid-Female-Human whose name escapes him. They all seemed incredibly focused on something; Big Boobs was typing on some sort of fancy plastic pizza-box thing with a lot of buttons, and the other two were looking over her shoulder. She was scowling, obviously upset with something, but Amaimon didn't care.

He just wanted Mephisto back, and he was willing to wait as long as it took to get there.

Suddenly the girl made a hissing noise, like the sound a snake makes just before it throws up.

Rin's brother scowled at her. "What?" he demanded, his voice a low whisper. One of the guards snorted in his sleep; it was an ugly sound, and Amaimon wanted to punch him, but that would take too much energy and he was too lazy to bother.

Big Boobs put the fancy small pizza-box back on the table. "Angel is already here."

Amaimon froze.

_Angel. _

He had known a lot of angels; there had been Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, Daniel, and Raziele, though that one had gone missing some time ago. But Amaimon only knew one human named Angel, and that was the Paladin.

What was he doing here?

* * *

_Yeah, short Amaimon POV, but it had content. Did you catch the content? If you didn't, you better start to friggin reread. DON'T SPOIL IT IN THE REVIEWS! It's really important and I don't want anyone to spoil it! _

_And to everyone who wished me luck in college, it meant and still means a ton. When I'm feeling down, I reread the reviews and silently thank you guys. Honestly. It's been a rough transition and I'm so thankful that this story has such sweet, amazing readers. :) Thank you so much you guys! I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, but hopefully it's soon. _

_Thanks for being awesome :D I don't think that I have to remind you all to stay that way, cuz you're doing a good job. _

_-Rand0mSmil3z_


	22. Chapter 19 - Gehenna

_Hey guys. So my schedule has FINALLY been sorted out . . . wanna hear my list of classes now? Monday Wednesday Friday I have Biology 120 (Ecology and Population), Spanish, and Biology 122 (Genes and Development). That afternoon I also have pilates (which is killing me. Like, I've never considered myself weak [actually, I'm pretty in shape] but that killed my abs. Seriously, my abs are broken.) Then Tuesday and Thursday I have Honors Humanities Tutorial and then Woman's Choral (which is choir), and those afternoons I have zumba class (which is sooo much fun!)_

_Anyway, things are getting so much better. I mean, I act all in-control, calm, and collected around my friends, but on the inside I'm a chaotic whirlwind of emotions and self-doubts. Does anyone else get that way? But anyway, I'm finally getting a normal day-to-day schedule working and my friends are all different, but all really sweet and loyal, like they have my back and I have theirs type of thing._

_Well, I'm going home next-next weekend (the 20th - 22nd), and my family is really excited. Apparently my little bro misses me a lot, though he would never admit it. My dad told me hahah_

_But anyway! Sorry for the ramble! Classes start soon so I'll get a head start on this chapter._

_(it's a pretty dark chapter)_

* * *

**_..._**

**_Raziele POV_**

**_..._**

****_A dream. _

_ This had to be a dream. _

_ A dream so gentle that is was cruel._

_ "Mom!" little Raziele shouted, a smile on his face that shone brighter than the sun against the sapphire sky. A woman turned; she was standing in the kitchen, a bowl of warm broth in her arms, and she smiled. _

_ "Look at you," she chastised, kneeling down to his level. She used the hem of her long dress to wipe off Raziele's face. The hybrid made a noise of protest and turned away, but his mother would have none of that. "Did you jump in the mud again?" she asked. _

_ Raziele made a face. "NO," he stated, puckering his lower lip. "It jumped up and GRABBED me. Like this!" he said and, with a laugh, jumped up and wrapped his arms around his mother's neck. She made a faint noise of surprise and almost dropped the bowl, but then she laughed and turned her head to kiss him on the cheek. _

_ "Go get cleaned up," she told him. "Remember, tomorrow is your - "_

_ Then the dream changed. _

_ Raziele's eyes widened as his mother's warm hand suddenly paled, the veins a dark patchwork beneath the thin skin. Her grip spasmed against Raziele's small hand as she continued to smile, but her teeth weren't all there and blood dribbled from her chin. He cried out and tried to pull away, but his mother held him firm as she peered to him from sunken, milky eyes. _

_ "What are you?" she whispered. Raziele winced as her grip snapped the small bones of his hands. "What sort of creature are you? Where's my baby, my perfect baby?"_

_ "Mom!" Raziele shouted, his small heart a wild thing in his chest. Tears budded in his rosy eyes. "Mom, it's me! Raziele!"_

_ Her hand spasmed again and he cried out from the sudden biting pain as bone ground against bone. "No!" his mother screamed. Blood flew from her mouth mid-cry and Raziele flinched when the tiny beads struck his skin. They burned like a brand. "Where's my perfect son! My baby! What have you done with my baby?!"_

_ Raziele opened his mouth, but the only sound that came out was breathless whimpers as his mother arched her back and screamed, screamed damnation to the skies above . . ._

"Raziele!"

Raziele gasped and his rosy eyes flung open. His pink hair was a mess on his head, and his skin felt clammy and cold. The covers were a mess about him, tangled and hot from struggling in his sleep.

A candle flickered in the corner, and for a moment, Raziele thought that he was back in isolation. But then he realized that the air didn't taste like blood and iron, and that the walls seemed dry. Most importantly, there were no longer and chains around his wrists or ankles.

He slowly turned his head; there was a girl sitting on a chair beside the bed he laid in, her short silver hair framed about her face, her violet eyes luminous while the other was hidden behind an eye patch. She was watching him with an impassive expression, but Raziele could see how her thin hands were clenched on the white bed sheets. However, everything seemed blurrily, as if he was looking through a dirty window.

"Y -you're the . . ." Raziele began, forcing his shaky arms to haul himself up, but suddenly his vision darkened and swam. Moments later a cold hand pushed down on his chest, pushed him back down on the bed.

"You were hurt," the demon-girl whispered. "I found you in the hallway."

_Hallway? _Raziele blinked in confusion; that word didn't make any sense. What hallway? When? When did she -

- and suddenly everything snapped into place. Satan hitting Rin. Satan laughing, cackling towards the sky, Satan suddenly whipping around and crushing his chest with a single blow as propelled him backward from the sheer force of it. Raziele had been unconscious before he had even hit the wall.

Raziele forced himself up, ignoring the screaming protests of his limbs. They shook from the strain and he gasped when he felt the tendons holding his ribcage together stretch and pull his bones back into place. The demon-girl reached forward to push him back down, but a single glare from Raziele froze her hand.

This wasn't the quick-to-smile human side of Raziele, the Raziele that loved to joke around and eat apples in secret.

This was Raziele the demon.

And he was _pissed. _

"Where am I?" he demanded.

The demon-girl didn't even blink. "My room."

_My . . . _Raziele looked around one last time. It was even worse than his room; dark, dreary, with a single worn rug on the floor that looked as if it had been dragged from the bottom of the trash heap. The only other furniture was a bed and a pale in the corner.

Raziele turned his lethal, rosy gaze back to the demon. "Why did you help me?" he asked.

At that, the girl suddenly seemed uncomfortable. Finally she murmured, her voice holding a tinge of emotion, "You know Young Lord Rin."

Raziele blinked. _Rin? _She saved him just because he knew _Rin? _But that didn't make any sense; no demon would willing help another just for the hell of it. There had to be something else, something . . .

The girl suddenly stood. "I must go," she stated, and then turned away, but Raziele reached out and grabbed her wrist before he knew what he was doing. She froze and turned, eyes wide and scared.

"You didn't tell me - " Raziele's breath fluttered in his fragile lungs, " - what your name was."

The girl's eyes widened further. "Name?"

Raziele nodded. "Name. Wh - what's your name?" He could feel his conscious slipping again, almost like he was swimming through the lake back home. Each breath tired him, each breath sunk him a little further beneath the dark waves. His hand trembled around the demon-girl's thin wrist.

She averted her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with the contact. "I am called 8265734."

Raziele blinked in surprise and then laughed slightly; he couldn't help it. "That's not a name," he whispered. "That's a number."

"Then I have no name," she stated. The resignation in her voice chilled and broke his heart, even though he knew that it was shattered beyond healing point.

Raziele dropped his arm. "Then your name is . . . Sophiel."

Scarlet lightly kissed the demon-girl's - now Sophiel - cheeks. "Soh-phi-el," she whispered, testing her new name. "Sophiel."

Raziele faintly smiled as he leaned back onto the bed; the room seemed to dark now and his body so light, so impossibly light, as if he could float away. "That was my mother's name," he murmured. If he was in his right mind, he would never had admitted that. Never would have even mentioned it. "She was . . . always helping everyone . . . and I guess you do . . ." his eyelashes fluttered closed, " . . . too."

Sophiel was speechless. No one had ever been nice to her - besides Rin, of course - but now she had a name. A true name, not an ID number based on when she had been breeded. A true name, and she didn't know what to say. Thankfully she didn't have to; Raziele had already fallen asleep.

**...**

**_Rin POV_**

**_..._**

****Rin opened his eyes and hoped, for the fifth time today, that he was dead.

Unfortunately, he wasn't. A foot suddenly slammed down on his chest, breaking the ribs that punctured his lungs. Rin opened his mouth but didn't have enough breath to scream and didn't even have the energy to move. His right arm had been broken in three different places, the hand a little more than useless ligament on the end of his wrist. His left knee was bent forward and lay on the ground at an awkward angle, his left arm was simply gone, cut cleanly through by a blade. Blood had dried on his hair and skin, dying them a dull brick red.

"Get up," Satan hissed, kicking Rin to the side. Rin didn't make a sound - he learned not to do that early on - as he tried to rise with blind desperation. He knew what would happen if he didn't, and there were worse things than death.

Three days.

Three days.

Three days and Rin already wanted to die.

A sudden blow to the side of his head made him see stars and, once again, he hit the ground. His shoulder creaked and screamed in agony from the force, and fresh, warm blood added another layer to the dried red that was already on his face.

Satan had brought it upon himself to train Rin to use a sword and flame. However, there were no lessons; it was either do or die be tortured to the brink of death. If Rin did something wrong, _anything _wrong - look at Satan the wrong way, walk the wrong way, breath the wrong way, run the wrong way - and Satan beat him into the ground and made sure that he left a dent.

Rin flicked his sapphire eyes to Satan, standing over him. Sweat stung his eyes and made the dirt and his clothes stick to him like a second skin. His breath was a dry rasp due to dehydration; Satan believed that motivation stemmed from starvation, and it was now the law Rin lived by. If he wants to eat, he better win . . . but he was quickly learning that he couldn't win against Satan. Not like this.

Maybe malnutrition would kill him off.

Rin ground his teeth together and Satan pulled him up by his shirt. The King of Hell's clothes, dark and reinforced with silver, was speckled with blood. Rin's blood. However, his face was clean and his blue eyes as hard as marbles.

Rin glared at Satan, eye to eye. "Go fuck yourself," he hissed.

Satan's thin lips quirked in a smile, but suddenly his expression darkened. Dread blossomed in Rin's stomach right before he was thrown against the ground. Dust clouded the air as his bones, struggling to heal, broke and snapped again.

_Welcome to hell, _Hades had said.

_Welcome to hell._

* * *

_Longer chapter today. Raziele is alive, you guys! And this was just a teaser-introduction of Rin's training on hell. Time for him to be a weapon. _

_Anyway, since I haven't done this in a while, comments time! :D _

Ytwolfpup: _I looooove SnK! I got up to episode 22 and now I'm dying because episode 23 isn't out! D: It made me incredibly sad. And thank you! Love you too, you amazing person you!_

Hartanna: _Naaaah I'm just messing with you guys xD Raziele's alive, as you read. _

werewolf120: _I don't do yuri and definitely not three-way love thing, sorry. And as for your other idea, you're just gonna hafta see what happens! :)_

InsaniumArtisan: _IF YOU DON'T READ ATTACK ON TITAN, YOU MUST. MUST. IT IS SO AMAZING! _

Dowgma: _Thank you! _

hana-kitzu: _and thank you too! :D_

Edwenlas: _no worries! and I'm sure that your fanfic will be amazing! :)_

_Continue staying awesome (and thanks for all the good-lucks for college! :D)_

_-Rand0mSmil3z_

_(By the way, I finally figured out what I'm going to do with my biology major. Forensic science? Oh yes.)_


	23. Chapter 20 - Assaih

_Hey guys! Soooo sorry this is so late! Biology is killing me. Maybe even literally because I don't get enough sleep, and classes are crazy, and my life is kinda sorta changing, so I forced everything else out of the way to get this chapter done._

_Anyway. I have a really cute, true story to share with all of you before the actual chapter. _

_A weird book-loving girl got to the train station just ready to go home and sleep because her university's classes were crazy. At the train station, a guy walked up and the girl's roommate asked if he was from their university. He said yes, and he and the girl talked the entire time, even after the roommate had left and he saw some of his friends from football. They talked on the train, talked after his football friends got off, played star wars on his laptop, and he even stayed an extra stop with the girl so that they could talk more. They talked all weekend and he bought a new ticket so that he and the weird girl could sit together, and when they got to school, something had happened. _

_They boy told her the night they got back that she, the weird book-loving girl, made the train and awful bus ride amazing, and that he hoped to see her again. They talked, hung out, and even though the girl is a total weirdo and told him that she needs more time for herself than normal people does and may need some time adjusting to everything, he told her to take as much time as she needed because she was worth it, and it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever told her. Ever. _

_By the way, the girl is still stunned speechless, but will shut her big mouth and start with the actual story. Comments at the end (I can't reply to all, but I'll try!) Thanks for waiting everyone! 3_

* * *

**_. . . _**

**_Angel POV_**

**_. . ._**

_ No one ever made a fool out of him._

Angel raised the sword a little higher so that the sharp blade lightly pushed against Mephisto's neck. Sickly, pale light gleamed against its sharp edge like madness swirling beneath a dark eye. The demon sneered back at him, his elongated canine lightly pushing down on his lower lip. Angel's grip on the hilt tightened.

_And _nobody _ever used him like a puppet. _

"Tell me one more time why I shouldn't kill you," the Paladin hissed between his teeth. His temper was white hot, and Mephisto's every movement made his fingers twitch against the leather grip of his blade. He wanted to kill Mephisto, wanted to strike him down _dead, _but only a lifetime of training kept his arm firm in place.

He wouldn't kill the demon.

Not until he dragged out every scrap of truth out of it, anyway.

Mephisto grinned, a dangerous grin, a grin that would had sent shivers down Angel's spine had he not been so furious. Blood lined his teeth, a stark contrast against the white. "I didn't like Gehenna," he said, then added with a dark laugh, "They were all too damn serious over there."

Angel's temple pulsed with a steady throb. "You're in a serious situation right now," he hissed, applying more pressure. The edge of the blade broke the skin, and warm blood dripped down Mephisto's neck.

Mephisto didn't make a noise, didn't even react. "I made a gamble," he said simply, "and I lost. But if you kill me, the Vatican will have your head."

Angel's upper lip rose in a sneer. "They wouldn't dare."

"Human's _always _dare," Mephisto retorted. His thin, violet eyes widened with sudden intensity, and a smile stretched his thin lips. "They dare to dream, dare to climb higher than the others, dare to reach out past their limits. It's what makes them so interesting; they dare, and yet most know that they will never be able to achieve. And yet they dare anyway, they dare to believe in their fragments of hope, and so they struggle. Why," he added, "you're struggling right now."

Angel blinked, then his temper flared twice as bright. His vision went white and, without thinking, he pulled his arm back for a killing blow. His sword was an arch of pure, unbridled destruction as it fell forward across Mephisto's neck -

- but something stopped it halfway through. Metal rang in the air and echoed against the stone walls as someone grunted. Angel blinked and jumped back, mostly on reflex. Whatever he hit was a sword, and the sound of the clash seemed all too familiar.

And when he got his bearings, he realized why, and his rage flared once again.

"Shura, get out of the way," he growled, raising his sword again. The woman was standing between him and Mephisto, to the demon's seemingly unending amusement, and had a dangerous look on her face. Her hair fell across her shoulders like living fire.

"Sorry, baldy," she said, a dangerous and yet unsure grin playing out on her lips. "I can't do that."

Angel reared back. "_Move!_" he roared, "or I will gut you along with him!"

"Nope," Shura replied, moving the pad of her thumb towards her lip in preparation for the bite. "That's not happening either."

"Shu - "

There was the click of a gun behind him, and Angel smirked and almost laughed. He had wondered, maybe for a millisecond, why Shura would be down in the Vatican prison by herself. But now that _he _was here, everything suddenly snapped into place.

"Oh, I get it," he said underneath his breath. "I know what you're after - " he turned around, " - Yukio."

The younger Exorcist was holding his twin guns at eye level, the turquoise of his eyes deeper and deadlier than the darkest ocean. "Move, Angel," he said. His hands didn't shake, and neither did his voice, but Angel could tell how nervous the boy was, how close to the edge he had been pushed.

Angel laughed. "Why should I?" he taunted. "Are you hoping that Mephisto will be able to bring back your brother? Bring back that spawn of Satan from Gehenna?" The Okumura boy visibly flinched, but his pistols didn't waver. "Well, if you ask me," Angel continued, rolling his head to look at Shura, "that demon hybrid is right where he belongs."

Her violet eyes narrowed but, to his surprise, she wasn't the one who started yelling. Instead it was that timid blond-haired girl whose name escaped him at the moment, but she suddenly turned the corner with her emerald eyes livid in the weak light.

_"Take that back!" _she screamed. "Rin belongs _here, _with his family! And we're going to save him!"

Angel flicked his eyes from Shiemi, to Yukio, to Shura, and back again. Three again one weren't very good odds, but then again, he was the Paladin. He could grind them to the dust if he felt like it, which he didn't at the moment. All he wanted to do was rip Mephisto's life from his bloody chest, and he'd rather avoid killing these three.

Enough exorcists had died already.

And, now that he thought about it . . .

Angel spun; his hair spun about him like spun gold. "Demon," he said, addressing Mephisto, "tell me again why I should spare your life."

"Because I am the only one, other than Lord Satan himself, who can get you into Gehenna," Arrogance stained Mephisto's voice. "If you want to save Rin - and kill Satan - you have no choice but to rely on me."

Mephisto's hand spasmed against the hilt. That wasn't what he wanted. He _hated _relying on other people, _hated _feeling weak and powerless.

But if he wanted to kill Satan, he wouldn't have a choice. Mephisto would come later . . . and besides? What better revenge than to flip the playing field and use Mephisto as a puppet instead?

"Fine," he said. Shura's eyes widened from disbelief, and then widened further when Angel took two long strides and buried the blade into Mephisto's thigh. The demon winced and bit his lip, but the expression of pain faded a moment later. Behind him, the blond-haired girl gasped.

"Listen, demon. Mephisto. Samael. Whatever they call you." He lowered to one knee. "I will free you, but if you do anything strange - if you so much as look at me wrong - I will not hesitate to cut you down from your knees up. Do you understand me?"

Mephisto smirked. "Perfectly," he replied, sounding amused like always. But this time Angel held the undercurrent of pain beneath every syllable. It was satisfying, and he jerked the sword out. Blood splattered to the floor and, from the corner of his eye, he saw Yukio slowly lower his gun.

Angel turned back to the three exorcists. "Hurry and get the chains off before the guards change shifts, but leave the manacles around his wrist and neck on. If he goes crazy, we'll need something to stop him."

"I don't think he'll be resisting anytime soon," Shura muttered to Angel beneath her breath.

He couldn't help but agree. Mephisto looked terrible; bruises molted his skin and his skin was blackened and swollen from the chains. Angel felt no sympathy, however. This demon was the sole reason that dozens of exorcists had been slaughtered, was the reason that he had been shamed and forced to endure a demon possession by Satan himself.

Yukio and Shura managed to get the chains off - Shura had stolen a ring of keys off of the drunk guards - and they both hauled Mephisto to his feet. And as they all left, all following Angel, the Paladin remembered Mephisto's words as if they were an echo from a dream: _And all humans dare to believe in their fragments of hope._

* * *

_Side-note: this chapter was really hard to write, especially with my hiatus. Sorry guys :(_

_Side-note #2: you have no idea how happy it makes me that you all like my OCs! Honestly, so many people freaked out when they thought Raziele had died, it was just about the greatest thing. I consider it a badge of honor because most OCs are hated to death 3 So yeah. Thanks for liking my OCs :) it's so awesome you guys._

Azmus: _Thank you! :) I try hard with characterization; Mephisto and Satan are really tough to get spot-on, same with Angel, but I try to keep the story believable._

Clarity in Scarlet: _Whooo SnK for the win! It's so intense. I love it so much xD_

Dowgma: _I wish I could write more! D: I really do! Sorry for such slow updates! _

LazzyGirlRinny: _hahahaha that comment!_

Crystal de Angelo: _:D :D :D Isn't Raziele just a big sweetie? He just needs hugs. 3 Lots and lots of hugs._


	24. Chapter 21 - Gehenna

_Hey guys! :) Sorry the uploads are so slow. Next week I have a Biology 120 test on Monday, a Biology 122 midterm on Wednesday, and a Spanish test on Friday. I __**may **__just disappear off of the face of the earth for a bit._

_Anyway, my bf and I are doing fine. :) Seeing as how we've only known each other for two weeks, I'm a bit scared and unsure of what's going on, but hoping for the best. I mean, I'm the type of person that needs her personal space and plenty of time to herself, and what's cool is that he understands that, but most of the time I feel obligated to hang out with him and so I do, you know? I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not very honest when I DO need some time for myself, but relationships don't work with honesty, so I'm slowly working on it. _

_Ahhh so stressed. *_* But I don't mean to rant about me. I have pilates in like, twenty minutes, so I'm gonna write as much as I can now and finish it tonight. (My boyfriend told me that tonight is my night and that if I want to read/write/study by myself, then that's perfectly fine with him and not to feel obligated at all. Isn't that super sweet?!)_

_But anyway. I gotta learn when to shut up. :) Don't worry; my mushy feelings won't affect my writing. From here on out, welcome to Gehenna. _

_Welcome to hell. _

* * *

**_..._**

**_Rin POV_**

**_..._**

Once upon a time, Rin had missed the stars, his family, his old life.

Now he missed fresh air. Food. Water. A dry bed.

He raised his head towards the dank and dark ceiling. Grime caked his cheeks like a second skin, though thin tracks from tears of pain cut through the dirt and dried blood.

_"Get up!" screamed a voice above him. Rin bit his lip and tried, tried so hard, but his arms wouldn't support him. The muscle beneath the tanned and bruised skin trembled with every faint movement, but that didn't matter. Nothing did. He took a deep breath - felt his lungs slowly and painfully expand as dust caked the inside of his throat - and tried again. _

_ But this time, his arms wouldn't even respond._

_ So he just laid there. Laid there like a dead thing in the dirt and blood. The noises faded away, and even the repeated whip lashes to his back that usually served as motivation to get to his feet just seemed to disappear. Nothing existed, nothing matter, and Rin didn't care. _

_ When he came to, someone had rolled him onto his back and was pouring something down his throat. Something cold, a liquid maybe, and before Rin knew what he was doing his hands flew up and he grabbed the cup of water with everything he had. His grip was feeble, pathetic like a child's, and when the last drop trickled down his throat all he could think of was more, more, more. _

_ "And you'll get more," sneered a voice above him. Rin blinked his eyes open and pale blue eyes stared down at him. White hair framed a slender, pale face like a halo. "You just have to beat me first. Now -" Xavier raised his arm, " - get up."_

_ Rin felt his body react before his mind caught up. First his hips twisted and his body soon followed up in a roll, and the pale thin blade of a dike plummeted into the ground. It seemed to cut the earth in half and Rin, vision hazy and world spinning, felt the world darken as his mind focused on one word, and one word only:_

_ Survive. _

Survive.

Rin pulled his knees in close in a hug. Something had changed; now instead of begging for death, his mind fully embraced the idea of living. He clung to it, clung to it with some primal desperation that refused to let himself die. Rin squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the outside world that seemed to be falling on top of him. He didn't understand; it wasn't as if he didn't want to die. He _did. _But . . . but he couldn't let himself.

He just couldn't.

_Rin choked on the dust and slowly, slowly opened his eyes. His head ached and he knew immediately that he was hurt bad, real bad, so he stopped himself from moving. If Satan or Xavier wanted to kill him, now was their chance because, at this moment, he was utterly defenseless. He wouldn't even be able to scream for help. _

_ Not that anyone would listen. _

_ He closed his eyes and tried not to take deep breathes. Voices came in and out of focus, voices that whispered, "Progress hasn't improved. . .", ". . . new tactics . . ." , " . . ." , "Rin will be a weapon of Gehenna. . ." , " . . . destroy Assaih . . ."_

_ Rin coughed, and the voices stopped. Slowly he opened his striking blue eyes, and suddenly a boot connected with his face. Rin, reeling, felt the bone and cartilage be crushed before he heard the snap. Blood splattered onto the ground, and the parched dirt drank it all up._

Rin looked about his room, his new room, his little hole-in-the-wall. The bed was rickety, the sheets moldy and perpetually damp, with probably enough bugs to eat him alive. Blood splattered the floor, old and new, and scarlet stained the covers. Chains hung from the ceiling, partially rusted, though he couldn't tell where the rust ended and the bloodstains began.

He shivered and sneezed. It was also cold in this room as well. It always seemed cold, and every day he got a little bit thinner. Once he found a bread crust on the floor when two of the guards were half escorting, half dragging him back to his room. Rin lunged, but the collar around his neck and chains around his wrists and ankles stopped him with his fingers just brushing against the stale crust. The guards brutally pulled him away, and all Rin remembered was licking the specks of bread off of his fingers and feeling too tired to cry.

He was so tried.

So, so tired, and yet he couldn't sleep. His dreams were almost as bad as his new reality. Death came in every shape in his lucid dreams, sometimes even worse than whatever Xavier or Satan could throw at him. Satan had hired Xavier a day ago; apparently, the lord of Gehenna was too busy to "train" his son, or more likely, beat him to death with knowledge, and since Xavier was a lesser general who had some free time, it worked out perfectly.

Not to mention that Xavier had offered in the first place. The lesser general seemed intent on killing Rin, or at least, killing the part of him that made him human. The first thing he clarified was that Raziele was dead and that he, Xavier, had burnt the dead body himself. The second was that Raziele deserved death and that he had killed Xavier's sister at one point, but Rin didn't believe that. Didn't believe _any _of that.

He couldn't.

Suddenly the door slammed open. Rin, his back to the door, involuntarily shuddered and hugged his legs a little tighter. Every nerve ending screamed as he squeezed his eyes shut and prayed that they weren't here for him.

But who else would they be here for?

"Up," one of the guards gruffly said. Spit dribbled out of his fleshy gums as, with one large, dark, scaled hand, grabbed Rin's arm and lifted him off the floor. Moments later a collar was clamped around his thin neck. It was heavy and dug into his collarbones, but Rin didn't allow himself to move. He didn't even make a sound. He had fought back once, and only once, because the moment he opened his mouth the guard hit him so hard across the face his cheek imploded and jaw dislocated at the same time. Or at least, it felt like the same time. There might have been a millisecond of difference between the two.

And so Rin simply closed his eyes and gave up. He felt the cold metal of chains bite against the bruised and bloodied skin of his wrists, and a sharp and painful tug meant that they were walking. The moment they entered the corridor the sudden light from mounted torches stung and burned his eyes. They watered slightly and Rin lowered his head so that no one would see.

The prison was shaped like an inverted cone; the bottom held the worst of the prisoners while the top held the less demonic of sinners, though they were still considered Assaih's worst. Cells lined the spiraling stone walls. Other demons and mortal souls screamed from their individual cells and rattled the black metal bars, shrieking and laughing in shrill voices as Rin walked past. Men chanted nonsense words in high voices, others giggled and waved with looks of murder in their eyes, while others moaned as they repeatedly slammed their body against the iron doors. Demons laughed and stretched their arms out the window, seeing if they could brush their slender fingers against Rin's hair. They called to him, called him names ranging from heaven to hell, and Rin kept his gaze low and tried not to listen.

Instead, he closed his eyes, his heart shaking. He couldn't deal with this right now, with the noise and the screams and the _hate_. He simply couldn't. He didn't do anything wrong. He didn't deserve to be here, not among the rapists and serial killers and violently insane.

But maybe being born was a dark enough sin.

* * *

_Oooh. Dark chapter this time. Mostly flashbacks of what's up. _

_ Basically, Since Xavier knows that Rin and Raziele became friends, he's going to beat the living crep out of Rin as revenge. _

_ Anyway, next Gehenna chapter is an actual lesson instead of just snippets of Rin getting beat bloody. Maybe even a little bit of Raziele too - after all, who said he would just sit down quietly to recover? No worries - that kid has PLANS. _

_ By the way you guys, we're only two follows away from 100! How exciting is that?! Thank you so much for the support (with this story and my personal life haha) aaaand thanks for being just the best group of readers ever! :) I tell you that every chapter (or at least, I try to) but seriously. You're all so awesome. Thanks for all of the reviews! :) :) :)_

_ Stay awesome,_

_ Rand0mSmil3z_


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